the mccanns are why this mother was let off for child neglect after leaving baby home alone

Mother who left baby girl alone for an hour every day is spared jail as judge says 'even the Prime Minister' makes similar mistakes

Aysiea Mahroof, 27, left her daughter while she took her older children on the school run and didn't realise it was illegal
'If I don't do it again will you let me go?' she told police when she was arrested for child neglect
Her sentence could have been up to 10 years in prison but Judge Manning-Davies said even the PM forgot his child once
Mr Cameron left his eldest Nancy at The Plough near Chequers by mistake three months ago

By Martin Robinson

PUBLISHED: 11:25 GMT, 23 July 2012 | UPDATED: 12:23 GMT, 23 July 2012

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Neglect: Mother Aysiea Mahroof, pictured with one of her children, left her seven-month-old baby for an hour a day but was spared jail after a judge said even Prime Minister David Cameron made mistakes bringing up his children

Neglect: Mahroof, pictured with the seven-month-old she abandoned daily, left her while on the school run, which the judge compared to the PM accidentally leaving his daughter Nancy in a pub a few months ago.

A mother who abandoned her seven-month-old baby at home for an hour every day has been spared jail after a judge told her even Prime Minister David Cameron left his child in a pub once.

Aysiea Mahroof, 27, left her daughter while she took her older children on the school run and didn't realise it was illegal saying 'If I don't do it again, can I go?' when she was first arrested by police.

But today Judge Vivian Manning-Davies told Mahroof her conviction for child neglect was similar to David Cameron leaving his eight-year-old daughter Nancy behind after a family outing to a village pub for Sunday lunch near Chequers three months ago.

Mr Cameron presumed that Nancy was in the car with his wife Samantha, while she thought that their daughter had jumped in with the Prime Minister. All the time she was in the pub's toilet.

'A parent makes mistakes in relation to children. I include myself in that statement,' the judge said.

'Recently, by way of an example, the Prime Minister left his own daughter in a pub.'

Mother-of-three Mahroof left her daughter for 40 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes each afternoon while she did the school run.

Her neighbours tipped-off police after seeing her leave her house in Swansea every day without the baby.

The young mother told officers she could not manage to get the baby’s buggy down the steps outside her house in the Townhil area of the South Wales city.


And she claimed she had no family help after being cut off by them because she refused to enter into an arranged marriage.

Mahroof wept in court as she admitted a charge of child neglect which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Abandoned: The child was left here for 40 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon because she couldn't get the buggy up and down the steps

Abandoned: The child was left here for 40 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon because she couldn't get the buggy up and down the steps

But Judge Manning-Davies gave her a community order with 12 months supervision saying her only motive was to take her children to school.

He told the tearful mother: 'What this case is not, like so many in court, is that you left children for only self interest.

'In that situation, I would be sentencing you to a term of imprisonment.

'But this is not a case of you being an uncaring mother, quite the contrary.'

The judge cited David Cameron as an example of a parent who had done the same when he left his eight-year-old daughter Nancy in a pub after a family Sunday lunch.
David Cameron, pictured holding his daughter Nancy at a wedding in 2007, thought Samantha Cameron had all their children but she thought Nancy was with him

Whoops: David Cameron, pictured holding his daughter Nancy at a wedding in 2007, thought Samantha Cameron had all their children but she thought Nancy was with him

Mr Cameron was there with wife Samantha, and children Nancy, Arthur, six, and 22-month-old Florence, just a few miles from his country residence Chequers in Buckinghamshire.

As they went to leave, Nancy went off to the toilet without telling them.

The Prime Minister was driven back to Chequers, which is two miles from the pub, with protection officers in one car, while Mrs Cameron drove their other children in another.

An insider said: 'It was a case of "Oh crikey I thought you had her" and "Oh crikey I thought YOU had her.'

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said he was ‘distraught’ when he realised what had happened and later confirmed that Mrs Cameron returned to the pub to pick up Nancy.
Popular: The Plough pub, where the Camerons accidentally left their daughter Nancy

Error: The Plough pub, where the Camerons accidentally left their daughter Nancy when they drove off in separate cars, which the judge compared to Mahroof acts of neglect

Speaking after the case, Mahroof, whose older children are seven and five, said she hadn’t realised leaving her baby alone was illegal.

'When I took my two children to school my heart was pounding when I did it. But I thought I was keeping her safe,' she said.

'No mother wants their child harmed but I didn’t realise it was the law not to leave them. I will never ever do that again.

'I adore my baby more than anything. She is a bright light for me and without her I wouldn’t be able to breathe.

'I want to thank the judge for understanding my feelings and what I am going through.'



seee???? children are left alone now because the mcanns got away with child neglect parents can no longer be punished becasuse of the like of the mcanns and david cameron

a 7 month old baby is defenceless FFS why not take the baby with her like most mothers do??

He told the tearful mother: 'What this case is not, like so many in court, is that you left children for only self interest.

'In that situation, I would be sentencing you to a term of imprisonment.

I guess that judge might call going out wining and dining with your mates self interest.

I think the Judge needs to look for another job.

I am not sure Cameron will be best pleased being cited as an example. As I recall his daughter was left behind by mistake not an act of commission.

I read this today and came onto the forum to post it.

This begs the question... WHY ARE THE MCCANN'S NOT AT LEAST CHARGED WITH THIS ?!!!

If they faced at least some charges, that would be something.

Loopdaloop wrote:I read this today and came onto the forum to post it.

This begs the question... WHY ARE THE MCCANN'S NOT AT LEAST CHARGED WITH THIS ?!!!

If they faced at least some charges, that would be something.

The English courts have no jurisidiction for bringing charges as the act took place abroad. There are only limited crimes which can be tried by our courts if committed abroad.

Chris wrote:

Loopdaloop wrote:I read this today and came onto the forum to post it.

This begs the question... WHY ARE THE MCCANN'S NOT AT LEAST CHARGED WITH THIS ?!!!

If they faced at least some charges, that would be something.

The English courts have no jurisidiction for bringing charges as the act took place abroad. There are only limited crimes which can be tried by our courts if committed abroad.

That's true Chris but why? Oh Why do the tabloids not hold them up in comparison? At least try to embarass them and let everyone know what they did whether abroad or at home is not right??

Not quite sure how the McCanns are to blame though..

Justiceforallkids.
I think that David Cameron and not the McCanns are the reason that this lady was let off.

This may be a bit controversial for this forum, but I don't see why this woman should be completely vilified for what she did. Perhaps the judge was right with the leniency of the sentence. Perhaps. I couldn't say without hearing more details.

Getting a young baby up, dressed, taking them out in the cold, isn't always easy, it isn't nice for them. I can imagine a scenario, when it's cold and rainy, someone might well imagine that it would be best to leave a younger child (one not able to get up and walk around and get into mischief) to quickly go and do the school run and come back. I'm not saying that I would do this, but I can see the plausible arguments that someone could make. I never felt all that much sympathy for the McCanns, way back in 2007, when they left their youngsters without a baby sitter to go out for meals. Obviously, subsequently, we've found out that most of what they said was codswallop, anyway. There are many reasons why what the McCanns (purportedly) did, in leavng their kids was much worse thatn what this woman did.

Loopdaloop wrote:I read this today and came onto the forum to post it.

This begs the question... WHY ARE THE MCCANN'S NOT AT LEAST CHARGED WITH THIS ?!!!

If they faced at least some charges, that would be something.

Yes, exactly.

Fern wrote:Not quite sure how the McCanns are to blame though..

I'm not too sure what you mean?

marxman wrote:

Fern wrote:Not quite sure how the McCanns are to blame though..

I'm not too sure what you mean?

The title of this thread Marxman.

This case is unbelievable.

The cameron case is not comparable. they did not decide to leave their 8 year old daughter nancy in the pub. both thought she was with the other parent. Such communication breakdowns happen. they were mortified when they realised and this will not happen again. Also Nancy was 8 not a baby like the one here.

if it was so difficult to get the buggy down the stairs, then carry the baby and put her in the car seat.

And where is the father of these three children?

I do not believe this mother is bad, merely not prepared for the sheer hassle of 3 kids in the morning - but leaving a baby for 40 min in the morning is not acceptable. Hopefully she will not do it again.

James wrote:This case is unbelievable.

The cameron case is not comparable. they did not decide to leave their 8 year old daughter nancy in the pub. both thought she was with the other parent. Such communication breakdowns happen. they were mortified when they realised and this will not happen again. Also Nancy was 8 not a baby like the one here.

if it was so difficult to get the buggy down the stairs, then carry the baby and put her in the car seat.

And where is the father of these three children?

I do not believe this mother is bad, merely not prepared for the sheer hassle of 3 kids in the morning - but leaving a baby for 40 min in the morning is not acceptable. Hopefully she will not do it again.

What I find worrying is that she doesn't seem to think there is anything wrong in leaving the children otherwise she'd not have done it.

I'm not quite sure where the buggy comes into this because as you say, why not just carry the baby down the stairs.

Anyway thankfully I doubt it will be happening again now that its been spelt out to her what should have been common sense in the first place.

The school run may not have included a car but a Mum walking with two children to school and pushing the baby in the buggy, which she couldn't get down the steps, did she live in a flat then.
Not all mums have the use of a car.
I am not excusing the actions of leaving the baby alone by the way, just pointing out that not all mums have the use of a car, I certainly never did and it was very difficult.

James wrote:This case is unbelievable.

The cameron case is not comparable. they did not decide to leave their 8 year old daughter nancy in the pub. both thought she was with the other parent. Such communication breakdowns happen. they were mortified when they realised and this will not happen again. Also Nancy was 8 not a baby like the one here.

if it was so difficult to get the buggy down the stairs, then carry the baby and put her in the car seat.

And where is the father of these three children?

I do not believe this mother is bad, merely not prepared for the sheer hassle of 3 kids in the morning - but leaving a baby for 40 min in the morning is not acceptable. Hopefully she will not do it again.

Agreed on all points James

Agreed that this case has no similarity whatsoever to the Cameron's accidentally leaving their child alone. One is an accident and the other is a deliberate act which was repeated over and over again. The case has some similarities to the McCanns, as they also made a concious decision to leave their young children alone. The difference is that this woman was acting out of ignorance, and the McCanns were acting out of complete selfishness. The McCanns were wining and dining with friends, this young woman was attending to the needs of her other two children.

I agree that this woman got off lightly, though she sounds like she is not the brightest tool in the shed. The McCanns on the other hand, have no excuse for their behavior.

jinvta wrote:Agreed that this case has no similarity whatsoever to the Cameron's accidentally leaving their child alone. One is an accident and the other is a deliberate act which was repeated over and over again. The case has some similarities to the McCanns, as they also made a concious decision to leave their young children alone. The difference is that this woman was acting out of ignorance, and the McCanns were acting out of complete selfishness. The McCanns were wining and dining with friends, this young woman was attending to the needs of her other two children.

I agree that this woman got off lightly, though she sounds like she is not the brightest tool in the shed. The McCanns on the other hand, have no excuse for their behavior.

I understand your point although in my opinion the excuse of being ignorant is just not good enough. We are talking about basic common sense here and I don't care what the parents are doing whether its leaving the children to eat out or to take other children to school, children are not to be left alone.

What....not even to go to the pub at night...jeez.....I remember the good old days when you put the baby in Its cot at 8pm and go to the pub and you get back at 12pm pissed.....what is this world coming to...you have to actually look after your children now!!!

Bobsy wrote:The school run may not have included a car but a Mum walking with two children to school and pushing the baby in the buggy, which she couldn't get down the steps, did she live in a flat then.
Not all mums have the use of a car.
I am not excusing the actions of leaving the baby alone by the way, just pointing out that not all mums have the use of a car, I certainly never did and it was very difficult.

When my children were young, although my husband had a car I couldn't drive. I used to take them both shopping, then coming home, with one hand on the youngest, I folded up the buggy and when the bus came I struggled on the bus with shopping children and a buggy.

I didn't moan about it, because that is how it was and I can only presume that generations before mine had it worse than we did.

Anyway you are right, there is no excuse for this woman to leave her baby at home while she took the other children to school. If she lived in a top floor flat and there was no lift, she could have held the baby with one arm and carried the pram down stairs with her other arm. If the pram was too heavy for her to lift, she shouldn't have bought the pram in the first place.

The first thing you do when you buy a pram, is think about where you live. Will the pram fit inside your home without taking up too much room and can you lift it if the occasion arises. If you answer no to even one of those questions, when you look at the pram, then you mustn't buy the pram.

I think the Judge was too lenient with this woman, but he isn't on his own in being lenient. A woman in Manchester, crashed her car whilst drunk and while her 4 young children were in the car. She has got a slap on the wrist. A few months ago, a Macclesfield mother who had been prosecuted for drunk driving, whilst having her children in the car and escaped a severe punishment. She did the same thing again was prosecuted and again she escaped a severe punishment. She gave the Judge a lame excuse and he accepted her excuse.

I have to agree with you, kathy. I had a newborn, a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old. the eldest was in full time school, the middle one in half day nursery and I still managed to take my newborn EVERY time I did the school/nursery run, on foot, six times a day, there and back. No excuses for leving little ones ever.

wjk wrote:I have to agree with you, kathy. I had a newborn, a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old. the eldest was in full time school, the middle one in half day nursery and I still managed to take my newborn EVERY time I did the school/nursery run, on foot, six times a day, there and back. No excuses for leving little ones ever.

I was like that when mine were little, though not six times a day. When my son was born, I had to get my daughter to school, and we went on foot. So, little'un into his pram. When he was a bit older, it was into his buggy and I'll never forget getting to the school one extremely cold and icy January morning. The snow had begun to thaw and then frozen over in solid ridges and it was impossible to push the buggy over it. I had to carry my son, who was about 2 years old. Amazing what you can decide in a split second! As soon as I knew I was falling, I knew I would have to fall backwards or fall on my son. So, backwards I went, holding him and of course couldn't put my arms out to break my fall! These things are what most of us do. If you have a small child and have to do a school run you take the small child with you, walking or driving in all weathers!

The McCanns didn't start this. It has been going on in some families for years before the McCanns even thought of it. Its a bit like speeding in a car, people take the chance to put their foot down until they get caught out. But with young children its not okay.

I do think this mum sounds very much under pressure, a single mum with more than one child. In her heart of hearts she knew she was taking a chance but if the other little ones disliked waking so early in the mornings she probably considered it easier to do the school run without them. Its not like the McCanns because they were not under pressure on holiday, hardly likely I would say and there were two parents to care for three children, not one parent caring for three children or however many there were in this case.

On the balance of things, no one came to any harm, the Judge seemed to understand the pressure the mother was under in trying to get a whole family and buggy down steps on her own, and the Judge took the view that this mother loved her children, was full of remorse, understood her actions could have placed her little ones in danger and had probably observed that in all other respects this was a mother trying her best.

What was the alternative outcome following the court hearing? Put the children into care, take them away from a mother who was so under pressure she took the easy way out in the mornings. Or put the mother into prison? What life would the little ones have then? The care system is also full of risk for young children, its second best, not all foster carers cope too well either and the children can end up going from one foster home to another and they can come into contact with other fostered children who are have very challenging behaviour. Quite simply, it has to be a last resort when everything else has been tried first.

Perhaps if the neighbours had offered a little help in the mornings, at least to get her out of the flats and onto the pavement, or perhaps offer to help with the other little ones while she took the eldest to school. It is all well and good to tut tut under breath and gossip and eventually phone the police but this sounds like a mother who was having a struggle. And its okay saying, oh you know we had it just as bad and we never did this and that, but we all cope differently under pressure, especially single mums.

Unlike the McCanns who just found spending time with their little ones a pressure and a struggle and yearned for their ME time and lashings of wine to wash it down on top.

LJC wrote:The McCanns didn't start this. It has been going on in some families for years before the McCanns even thought of it. Its a bit like speeding in a car, people take the chance to put their foot down until they get caught out. But with young children its not okay.

I do think this mum sounds very much under pressure, a single mum with more than one child. In her heart of hearts she knew she was taking a chance but if the other little ones disliked waking so early in the mornings she probably considered it easier to do the school run without them. Its not like the McCanns because they were not under pressure on holiday, hardly likely I would say and there were two parents to care for three children, not one parent caring for three children or however many there were in this case.

On the balance of things, no one came to any harm, the Judge seemed to understand the pressure the mother was under in trying to get a whole family and buggy down steps on her own, and the Judge took the view that this mother loved her children, was full of remorse, understood her actions could have placed her little ones in danger and had probably observed that in all other respects this was a mother trying her best.

What was the alternative outcome following the court hearing? Put the children into care, take them away from a mother who was so under pressure she took the easy way out in the mornings. Or put the mother into prison? What life would the little ones have then? The care system is also full of risk for young children, its second best, not all foster carers cope too well either and the children can end up going from one foster home to another and they can come into contact with other fostered children who are have very challenging behaviour. Quite simply, it has to be a last resort when everything else has been tried first.

Perhaps if the neighbours had offered a little help in the mornings, at least to get her out of the flats and onto the pavement, or perhaps offer to help with the other little ones while she took the eldest to school. It is all well and good to tut tut under breath and gossip and eventually phone the police but this sounds like a mother who was having a struggle. And its okay saying, oh you know we had it just as bad and we never did this and that, but we all cope differently under pressure, especially single mums.

Unlike the McCanns who just found spending time with their little ones a pressure and a struggle and yearned for their ME time and lashings of wine to wash it down on top.

You know what p****s me off about this, it's people like yourself saying that neighbours should do their bit to help this woman. You don't know if she has neighbours and if she has, maybe, just maybe, her neighbours are out at work, earning taxes to pay for the benefits this woman will be getting.

I'm sorry, but this woman has no excuse at all for leaving her child alone. Single mothers are no different to a stay at home mother, with a husband who is out at work. They all have to do the same thing, when it comes to getting their children to and from school.

The woman doesn't live in an apartment she lives in a house, she says she couldn't get the buggy down the steps and that is why she left the baby in bed. When she went to court she thanked the Judge for understanding her feelings and she said she will never leave her baby alone. If she couldn't get the buggy and baby down the steps before she went to court, how is she going to get the buggy and the baby down the steps now?

Anyway it's a load of rubbish, the woman took her children to school in her car, she says the school run, took 40 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the afternoon.

She also blames her family, because they cut her out of their lives, when she refused to have an arranged marriage.

I think the Judge was bang out of order using David Cameron and his wife as an excuse to let this selfish woman off the hook. The two cases are separate. David Cameron's daughter was left in the pub by accident and yes I know he and his wife should have made sure all their children were in the cars before each of them drove off. However David Camerons daughter, wasn't left in a dangerous situation, this baby was.

This Government is going to have to start clamping down on those who neglect their children, accidently or otherwise. This woman says she didn't know it was against the law to leave her child alone when she took her children to school. It doesn't matter whether it is against the law or not, what matters is, it is a dangerous practice to do this.

Recently a mother nipped out to the shops leaving her 3yr old son upstairs in bed and her 1yr old baby in the pram. When she returned the house was on fire, luckily she had left her door unlocked and a neighbour ran in and got the baby out. Her neighbour didn't realise that there was another child in the house until the mother told her. The neighbour couldn't reach the child, because the house was ablaze, so she had to wait for the fire brigade to rescue him. At the time this news went out, the boy was badly burned and on a life support machine and the baby suffered smoke inhilation.

I just hope that within this supervision order, there will be parenting classes, that this woman will be forced to attend.