A drug-addicted couple whose baby daughter died at their home have been slammed by a High Court judge for not living up to family responsibilities.
Mrs Justice Macur said Emma Hamer and Benjamin Pochin were ‘deluded’, thinking that they had their heroin habits under control.
Elle Hamer, who was only 38 days old, died on the night her mother went out to buy heroin from a dealer in Leominster.
The cause of death was never established but the baby was found to have a fractured skull. The judge told the pair after reading pre-sentence reports at Worcester Crown Court: “Neither of you appears to have had any necessity for self appraisal of your position as parents.
“The fractured skull was not due to a birth injury. Neither of you have reflected that, but for your addictions, you may have known how that injury was caused and taken steps to seek medical help.”
Hamer and Pochin, both aged 31 and of Middlemarsh, Leominster, were cleared of manslaughter on June 9 after no evidence was offered by the Crown.
But they pleaded guilty to possession of heroin and on Tuesday were each given 12-month community orders with six-months drug rehabilitation.
The judge said drugs had blighted the lives of the defendants and their three children.
She hoped the orders could address their disordered thought processes and provide a safe home for their children.”
But she said paying lip service to quitting drugs was insufficient and that she believed they intended to continue recreational use of drugs.
“It’s time you both started to consider your responsibilities to your children,” she said, adding that her comments would be forwarded to the panel considering a child protection plan for their other daughters, aged three and 11.
Prosecutor Andrew Lockhart QC said Hamer injected the heroin she bought on October 4, 2008, the night her baby died, and Pochin saved his share to use next day – police found it under his pillow.
Hamer had £10 worth of heroin in her handbag.
Hamer’s aim was to abstain from drugs which she still took to counter withdrawal symptoms, said her counsel Peter Blair QC, who added she had a strong work ethic and was employed by the diocese sorting out internet sites.
Patrick Harrington QC, for Pochin, said the £500-a-week steel erector left school at 16 and had never been unemployed.
He and Hamer wanted social services to let them have their children back.