June 2013

Parents who abandoned their baby boy to die of pneumonia while they threw an all-night party until 7am are jailed

• Four-month-old Liam Atherton was left in a cold room and suffered a fit

• Matthew Atherton, 23, and Anne Turnbull, 30, refused to call an ambulance

• They were jailed for 24 weeks and 21 weeks respectively for child neglect

A couple who left their four-month-old baby to die of pneumonia while they threw a drunken all-night party have been jailed.

Matthew Atherton, 23, and Anne Turnbull, 30, left their son Liam near their open back door while they and three guests made their way through 60 cans of lager, Jack Daniels whiskey and wine.

Liam had been diagnosed with a cold that day but was left in a downstairs room while the door was open to let cigarette smoke filter outside.

Despite the youngster suffering a seizure, his parents ignored pleas by their guests to call an ambulance and partied until 7am the next day.

Liam was found lifeless in his Moses basket at 11.15am when Turnbull went to check on him and was later pronounced dead in hospital.

Atherton and Turnbull were yesterday sentenced to 24 weeks and 21 weeks respectively after admitting child neglect.

Police who went to the house in Blackburn, Lancashire, following the baby’s death in January 2011 found a wheelie bin full of empty lager cans and wine bottles. 

The kitchen worktops were also covered with empty alcohol cans.

Blood tests ordered by the police showed Atherton was three times the drink drive limit at the time Liam was discovered. 

The day before Liam’s death he had been seen by the local health visitor who had diagnosed colic but noted that he was ‘thriving’, Preston Crown Court heard.

Social services had also decided to reduce their level of monitoring of Liam on the same day, although that decision was not criticised by the court.

The court heard that the couple had a history of alcohol misuse that dated back to February 2009 and were part of the Blackburn Family Intervention Team, who supported them practically and financially.

Jailing the couple, Judge Christopher Cornwall said: ‘This is not a sustained course of neglect.

‘The case against you is that you made a single and utterly terrible decision during the early hours of January 14 2011 not to seek medical advice. 

‘The reason you made that decision is because you were both so intoxicated that you deprived yourselves of the ability to think sensibly and rationally about Liam’s position.

‘I accept that the condition came upon him quickly and suddenly but nothing takes away from the fundamental point by reason of the fact that you thought it appropriate to drink and drink and drink.’

Liam was born prematurely in September 2010 and spent his first few weeks of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

His early arrival meant the boy was taking special medication to encourage his development. 

Despite his vulnerable condition his parents decided to throw a party.

Turnbull invited her sister Zoe Heap and her partner to join them at their terraced house.

Miss Heap found Liam asleep in a cold front room and became angry after noticing he was hungry and in a wet nappy.

She changed and fed her nephew, then passed him to her partner for him to settle. But Liam then suffered a ‘fit or seizure’.

Atherton put the fit down to his son having a cold and the boy was put back in his Moses basket.

Police began investigating the couple after being told of Liam’s sudden death by a nurse at the Royal Blackburn.

A post-mortem examination at the time did not reveal any significant injuries but a coroner later ruled Liam died from pneumonia. 

His parents were charged with neglect three weeks later.

Atherton initially denied wrongdoing but pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial.

At the time of the boy’s death neighbours said they saw Turnbull shouting and screaming in the street after dialling 999. 

One said: ‘She had gone to sleep on the couch, with the baby put in his rocker. But when she woke up, he wasn’t breathing.

‘Then there was a lot of commotion. It is devastating news. You just think of your own children at a time like this – I couldn’t live through something like that.’

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: ‘This is a tragic case.

‘We are working closely with the police and fully co-operating with the ongoing investigation.’