MOTHER JAILED FOR CAUSING SON'S DEATH BY DRUG OVERDOSE
A mother who killed her five-year-old son by feeding him tablets has been jailed for four years.Depressed Carol Birch, 44, admitted to feeding her son Jay the equivalent of 10 temazepam tablets before she waited for him to die and then tried to overdose herself.
Birch was living in Buxton, Derbyshire after moving from Milton Keynes in 2006, a few years after splitting from Jay's father Stuart Scotching.
Nottingham Crown Court heard Birch was found with her dead son in August 2007.
When paramedics arrived at the semi-detached house in Corbar Road, Birch was barely conscious and taken to hospital.
She was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and was informed of her son's death four days later, which she claimed to be 'genuinely shocked' about.
Prosecutor Nicholas Dean said that after her split from Mr Scotching, she told Jay's father that 'he was no longer allowed to see his son'.
Mr Scotching initiated legal proceedings for access, but no decision was made before Jay's death.
Birch had been prescribed anti-depressants and was experiencing suicidal thoughts in 2006.
She was prescribed temazepam to help sleep in May of that year.
Birch pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility in February.
Tania Griffiths stated in mitigation that Birch could not remember what she did or what had happened.
The court sentenced her to four years in prison for the manslaughter of her son.
