Neglect Baby ‘Like Concentration Camp Child’

Childcare experts yesterday condemned a 20-month jail sentence for a woman who neglected a baby so badly she resembled “a child from a concentration camp”.

Donna McKeown’s failure to look after the eight-month-old girl caused her to be chronically malnourished and suffering from scabies and the MRSA bug. It was only after intensive treatment by doctors that the baby managed to recover.

Sheriff Michael O’Grady, QC, yesterday described it as the worst case of neglect he had seen.

He said: “The consequences for this child were horrifying. For a significant period this child must have been in considerable distress. I find it difficult to comprehend that you were unaware.”

Children’s charities last night described the case as “appalling”.

McKeown, 26, who had claimed she did not know how badly affected the girl was, wept as she was led to the cells. Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took ill soon after her birth in October 2003 and had 11 days in hospital with a chest infection.

Concerns were then raised about McKeown and a health visitor was appointed for her, but her flat was found to be clean and tidy during visits.

However, in February 2004, McKeown’s contact with the health visitor ended. In June that year she made a cold-call to McKeown’s home and found it messy and dirty. The baby was “a bag of bones”, looking severely underweight and with sores on her head.

McKeown told police she had noticed the baby’s weight loss but was “scared” to report it in case she was blamed.

Mark McGuire, prosecuting, said the baby weighed 8lb when taken to hospital – half what was normal for her age.

“She was extremely scrawny. She also did not appear to smile. One doctor said she was like ‘a concentration camp child’. It was felt this condition was caused by severe failure to thrive, secondary to neglect.”

Last night, Sandra Brown, a former head of childcare and health studies at West Lothian College, condemned the sentence as being too lenient.

She said: “This kind of sentence sends out the wrong signal. It was an only an 11th hour intervention by a health professional that saved this child’s life.

“Who exactly was looking out for the child? A baby doesn’t suffer malnutrition in the case of a couple of days.”

Anne Houston, chief executive of the charity Children 1st, added: “It is appalling that there are still children suffering from this kind of neglect. Children depend on adults to look out for them and to keep them safe. Professional services have their part to play; so do concerned members of the public.”

After two weeks in hospital the child weighed 10lb and was feeding properly, and her skin complaints had cleared.

McKeown admitted wilful neglect when she appeared in court last October. She told a psychiatrist she was “unaware” of how the baby had suffered.

This is the latest in a series of neglect cases in Scotland to provoke criticism over sentencing. In March 2005 MSPs hit out at a one-year jail term given to heroin addict Alexandra King, of Larkhall, Lanarkshire, whose baby died of blood poisoning from nappy rash.