[Jackie]

A BOY of THREE was allowed to smoke by his mother, a shocked judge heard yesterday.
Kelly Pocock, 24, let the lad light up in his bedroom and around the house.

An astonished family friend saw him puff away while his mum was on the phone in the same room.

Worried Natasha Dudley, 25 — who said it looked like the youngster had been smoking for YEARS — used her mobile to film him.

She gave the footage to social workers who alerted cops. Pocock was arrested and charged with cruelty to a child under 16.

Judge John Curron said of the “appalling” case: “This is one of the most extraordinary I have ever come across.”

Prosecutor Jonathan Rees told how the friend had earlier looked for the youngster at the family’s home in Merthyr Vale, South Wales.

He said: “She found him under a bed with cigarettes. He was smoking one and Miss Dudley said it looked like he had been smoking for many years. When the boy was taken downstairs he went into the living room where he picked up a cigarette butt from an ashtray and smoked it.

“Pocock was on the telephone at the time so Miss Dudley decided to film the boy, such was her concern.”

Pocock claimed she had not noticed him — and was “shocked”.

But Judge Curron said the video proved her son knew how to use a lighter — and declared: “He would not have been able to smoke without discomfort unless he had acquired a habit.”

The tearful mum pleaded guilty and was given a suspended 40-week prison sentence at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court — plus a 12-month supervision order.

She was spared jail because her children would be “emotionally harmed”.


http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle2163782.ece