A 45-year-old mother who admitted child neglect has been handed a suspended sentence.

Her youngster was found at their home, smelling, with decaying teeth and with head lice.

Rabbit faeces and urine were found in the child’s bed.

We have not named the woman in order to protect the identity of the girl.

Magistrates sentenced her to four months custody, suspended for 12 months, and also made her the subject of a 12-month suspended sentence supervision order.

We previously reported that police went to the woman’s home on August 10 last year on an unrelated matter.

During a search of the premises officers found living conditions which they described as so poor that they were likely to cause significant harm to the child who was living there.

The youngster was put under a Police Protection Order and taken to police headquarters so that alternative care could be arranged.

After she was examined by a doctor, the child was said to be smelling of a strong odour, and found to have extensive dental cavities and head lice.

A rabbit hutch was in the child’s bedroom and rabbit faeces and urine were found in the bed.

The court heard that there had been a long-standing history of neglect.

The mother was interviewed at police headquarters and told police that she suffered from asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and said: ‘It’s obvious you can see I’m struggling.’

The child had been found asleep in her mother’s bed and when asked why, the woman said: ‘Well, you’ve seen the state of hers.’

She admitted that she should have asked for help but said she had not done so.

She said that people had offered her help but she had declined their offers.

Defence advocate David Reynolds asked for credit to be given for his client’s guilty plea and co-operation with the police.

‘She accepted from the outset that conditions were not satisfactory in any way,’ said the advocate.

Mr Reynolds said that the child was taken into care for three weeks but had now been returned to the mother.

He said that there was evidence of improvements in the home and the child’s bedroom had been decorated.

The advocate also said that the mother was engaging with Motiv8 and was receiving a considerable amount of support from social services.

A probation report suggested a suspended sentence as the most appropriate sentence.

Mr Reynolds went on to say that the mother would lose the family home if she was sent to custody and the child would have to go back into the care of social services.

Magistrates made no order for prosecution costs.