A mother who was passed out drunk as her 18 month-old daughter plunged from a faulty first-floor window during sub-zero weather and wandered onto a main road angrily told police who woke her: "Little bugger. I'll fucking kill her."
Her daughter fell onto concrete, suffering facial injuries - which included cuts swelling and bruising - and was found wandering on the main road at 3.50am by a postman, who took her to his sorting office and raised the alarm.
The 37 year-old jobless mum-of-two (pictured) had downed 3-4 Bacardi doubles and an empty rum bottle was found on the floor of her housing association flat in Arden Grove, Harpenden, Hertfordshire.
St. Albans Crown Court heard on friday she knew the window lock was faulty, but did nothing about it, claiming it was the association's responsibility to fix it.
She pleaded guilty to one count of child cruelty and was sentenced to a twelve month community order, plus a three month 7pm to 7am curfew, which will be monitored with a tag.
"But for the grace of God your daughter could have been more severely injured, if she had landed on her head for instance," Judge Ronald Moss told the defendant. "It could have been appalling."
Prosecutor Mr Andrew Sarkany told the court the defendant put her daughter to bed at 10pm on March 18, but passed out in front of the television after drinking alone into the early hours.
"There is a toy box in front of a window that leads to a sloping roof and the lock on the window did not work.
"She knew it was faulty and said to was the responsibility of the housing association.
"The girl walked past her drunk mother, climbed onto the toy box and pushed the window forward and climbed onto the sloping roof," explained Mr Sarkany.
"She slipped from the roof and hit the concrete floor below. She suffered injuries on impact.
"She wandered around the building and into the main road."
The temperature that night was -2 to -3 degrees and when police eventually woke the mum they noticed her breath smelled of alcohol as she told them: "Little bugger. I'll fucking kill her."
The girl and the mother's other daughter, aged 14, now live next-door with their grandmother and the family cannot be identified for legal reasons.
"This happened because she was careless rather than evil," said Judge Moss, telling the mother: "I understand how you came into the position of drinking to get by.
"I am not sure why you said what you said to the police. Maybe it was because you were drunk."
After inspecting pictures of the girl's injuries he added: "Looking at those, it really does break your heart."
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