Woman left crying child and urine-soaked baby at home to go clubbing

Laura Hopkin, 35, left her crying child and urine-soaked baby at home so she could go out partying, leaving the kids to be rescued by a neighbour.

By the time Laura Hopkin returned home, her baby was soaked in urine and screaming. Picture: iStock

A “self-centred” woman left a crying child and urine-soaked baby at home to go clubbing.

Laura Hopkin, 35, headed on the boozy night out alone after failing to find a babysitter.

But she was spotted partying in Pink nightclub, Hanley, Staffordshire, by a concerned neighbour, who went back to the street in the early hours to check on the kids.

When she arrived, the doors on Hopkin’s home were both locked – forcing to the neighbour to climb in through a window.

She discovered the schoolgirl “shaking and crying” and the baby soaked in urine with no heating left on.

The kind neighbour ended up taking both the children back to her own home – with Hopkin finally arriving back at 6am.

WEB OF LIES

Hopkin has now been jailed for 14 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after pleading guilty to two offences of cruelty to a person under 16.

At the time, she was on a suspended sentence for trying to poison her fiance with insulin because he was being a “knob”.

The court was told Hopkin called police herself after finally arriving back from the club on October 3.

But the lout tried worming her way out by telling cops she had left the children with a pal.

Hopkin then phoned back and admitted they were left alone.

The court was told she claimed she had gone to the nightclub to pick up some belongings she previously left there but decided to stay for a large glass of wine.

Hopkin didn’t return home until 6am. Picture: iStock

HORROR SIGHT

Hopkin said she then got at taxi and stopped off at Tesco to buy a bottle of wine, which she drunk at home, before heading back out in another taxi.

Meanwhile, her neighbour had grown suspicious when she bumped into Hopkin in the club after she had unsuccessfully asked her teen daughter to babysit.

The neighbour broke in using a wheelie bin on October 3.

She was greeted by the devastating sight of the two kids trying to fend for themselves in the freezing home.

Prosecutor Caroline Harris said: “The house was cold. The baby was soaked in urine.

“The child said she had been trying to feed the baby and was pouring milk directly from a bottle as she struggled to undo the top on the baby bottle.”

‘SELF-CENTRED BEHAVIOUR’

Sentencing, the judge pointed out Hopkin was already subject to the suspended sentence for the poisoning offence when she left the kids alone.

The “wicked” woman downed four bottles of wine before she injected diabetic Derek Turner, 50, with a potentially lethal dose of insulin after a blazing row at home.

Derek was only saved because he heard the pump bleep as he lay reading in bed – and managed to rip it out before it could administer the full dose.

By then her baby was soaked in urine and screaming. Picture: iStock

Judge Paul Glenn said: “I am quite sure you are remorseful. Alcohol remains a serious issue despite the fact you are said to be drink-free

for some months.

“There were two young children, one a baby, left unattended. In my judgment that is a significant level of neglect.

“It was not a momentary lapse of judgment. Having gone out once, you

went out again.

“You chose to carry on drinking excessively when confronted with

issues in your personal life. You chose to deal with matters by going

out drinking and totally ignoring the needs of two children.

“It was totally self-centred behaviour.”

This story originally appeared on The Sun and is republished here with permission.