Hull Crown Court Judge Jeremy Richardson criticized 31-year-old Claire Barnett for her bad parenting. Because her two-year-old son Joshua drowned on March 17 when he fell into the pond of their garden at their Beverley, East Yorkshire home while she was checking her Facebook on her phone, the judge sentenced her to five years jail term.
BBC reports that an investigation discovered that Claire uploading two images to Facebook and answered the phone call from her boyfriend. Relatives had previously warned her to cover the pond because of the danger to her kids, but she apparently ignored their warning.
Her lawyer, Timothy Roberts, claimed that she was ready to take the dog for a walk when her son drowned, but she was distracted by a Facebook comment.
She tried to save her Joshua, but it was too late. The tyke died in the hospital later than day, reports The Guardian.
This is not the first time that Claire has been accused of child cruelty. In August 2013, she allowed Joshua to play in the street when they were still living in Hull, and the boy was almost hit by a vehicle, prompting neighbors to report the incident to social services.
For the death by drowning of her son, Claire pleaded guilty to four counts of child cruelty.
Richardson told Claire that she has to live for the rest of her life the fact that her neglectful conduct caused the death of Joshua. He stresses, "I trust that you will never be allowed to further unsupervised contact to any child, if you should have any further children, they will almost certainly be removed from you."
The judge adds that Claire is a very serious risk to any child who would have a relationship with her.