2023; JAILED: LUDLOW MAN WHO DELIBERATELY POISONED DISABLED CHILD
A LUDLOW man has been sentenced to 32 months in prison after the court heard how he deliberately gave amphetamine to a disabled nine-year-old boy who had been left in his care.In court, Weaver, 40, of Middleton Sidings in Middleton, pleaded guilty to causing assault, ill-treatment, neglect, abandonment of a child or young person to cause unnecessary suffering or injury, and possession of a controlled drug of class B.
The offence became known when Weaver was covertly filmed due to suspicions he had been cheating on his partner.
The footage showed him dropping amphetamine into a can of drink before shaking it and asking the boy, “Do you want some of this little man?” Judge David Hale stated: “To deliberately give amphetamine to a nine-year-old, grossly disabled child is unforgivable.
I expect that you now are horrified that you did it and cannot understand how you could come to do it or what you were thinking.
But you did it.
It was a deliberate disregard for his welfare.
It is beyond belief.
It really was unbelievable conduct.” The boy’s mother, Terri Smith, 38, of Wheat Common in Ludlow, also appeared in court and pleaded guilty to charges of assault, ill-treatment, neglect, or abandoning a child or young person to cause unnecessary suffering or injury.
She was sentenced to a community order for 18 months, which includes six months of alcohol abuse treatment and 20 days of rehabilitation.
West Mercia Police mentioned that Smith had poisoned the child by providing the drug.
Detective Constable Karena Evans said: “This was a horrifying incident and hard to understand that someone would do something so awful to a disabled child.
Thankfully, the little boy has survived his ordeal and he has now been safeguarded.”
