A single mother on trial for neglecting her young child after she fell from a first floor window has been found guilty.

The 18-month-old girl fractured her skull while her mother slept in Station Road, Rainham, in August last year, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The 31-year-old woman - who cannot be named - had denied neglect, but admitted to police that she was asleep when the little girl fell.

However, a jury of five women and seven men unanimously found her guilty of neglect today.

The jury took less than an hour to reach their verdict.

The court had heard how the mum had put the child in her bed with her after her lover had left for work that morning.

The woman’s stepmother told the court she had concerns over the care of the baby and said she would often be dropped off at her home in a tired state, hungry and with matted hair and dirty fingernails.

The mother was arrested at King’s College Hospital in London while her daughter underwent emergency surgery for a blood clot on the brain.

When police searched the property after the incident, traces of amphetamines were found in the kitchen and the woman admitted that she dabbled in the drug, but denied she had taken it the night before the accident.

"Lots of things raised concerns with me, but it was not my place to say anything further..." - defendant's stepmother

Shortly after 8am that day last year the youngster was seen spinning around as she fell head first from the open window and hit a shop awning and a pensioner on her way down.

She suffered a bleed on the brain when she fractured her skull and surgeons had to make a 7cm cut to her skull to remove a large blood clot.

Miraculously the child was transferred to Medway Maritime Hospital just four days later and has since made a full recovery.

Judge Jeremy Carey heard how the stepmother and the woman’s father would look after the baby three days a week when the mother was at work.

The stepmother said: “I was worried she didn’t like the bath, it was if she was frightened, so I tried to make bath time fun.”

She added: “Lots of things raised concerns with me, but it was not my place to say anything further.

“I would wash her hair as it needed washing as it was matted sometimes and I would bathe her and put her in clean clothes.”

The stepmother also admitted the woman and child had a very close relationship and that she loved her daughter very much.

The woman’s father, who also lives in Rainham, said the child would occasionally turn up at his home dirty.

When asked if his daughter led a chaotic lifestyle, the man admitted: “Correct.” He agreed the flat “could be messy”.

The court also heard from DC Caroline Dovey who arrested the woman and later interviewed her, who told the court the mother admitted forgetting to close the window when she put the baby into the bed with her and that the first she knew about the fall was when she heard a strange screaming.

DC Dovey said: “She said she heard a screaming sound which sounded strange as if it was coming through the window and she looked down and then ran down the stairs.”

"The baby was about one or two feet from the open window. I felt sick. I was worried she was going to crawl along and fall out of the window..." - Witness Karen Kent

DC Dovey also told the jury the mother had admitted that just weeks before the incident the child had managed to throw her blanket out of the bedroom window and the she had started putting the latch on the window as a result.

Another to give evidence was paediatric nurse, Karen Kent, who lives in Station Road.

She had contacted police after she had seen a report about incident.

Just four days before the fall she had seen a baby appear on the window ledge of the flat above the shop.

Ms Kent said: “A child in the first floor window caught my eye.

“She appeared to be on the window ledge and I thought she looked about 18 months to 24-months-old and had blonde hair.

“I think she was crawling along the window ledge. The windows were in poor condition and one was open.

“She [the baby] was about one or two feet from the open window.

“I felt sick. I was worried she was going to crawl along and fall out of the window.

Ms Kent was so concerned she went into the shop below the flat to voice her concerns with the man behind the counter.

He told her he knew who lived in the flat but could not get access to it.

After being found guilty of the offence, Judge Carey told the woman she would be sentenced after pre-sentencing reports were carried out on her and that he was granting her bail until then.

He added that while on bail she would not be allowed any unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16.

He also told her she would not be receiving a custodial sentence.

The mother is due to be sentenced on a date to be fixed during the week beginning Monday, July 13.

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