A mother-of-eight who deliberately poisoned her baby’s milk with a powerful painkiller so she could get more benefits has been jailed . Sick Rose Jones, 30, repeatedly put high doses of tramadol into the one-year-old’s milk before feeding it to her.
The mother kept administering the drug as the child suffered seizures and was in and out of hospital as baffled doctors struggled to work out what was wrong with her.
The drug addict was today jailed for seven years and two months at Plymouth Crown Court.
In sentencing her, Judge Ian Lawrie QC said he believed Jones had poisoned her daughter in a ‘blunt and clumsy’ attempt to increase her benefits.
He said: “What we have here is not violence in its traditional sense, but it many ways it is perhaps worse. It is the administration of poison over a length of time; there is an element of persistence and almost calculation about this. It’s hard to begin to take the view that any aspect of your behaviour qualifies for sympathy.
“Whilst there is no long term damage done the point is you did cause harm and you know you caused her harm.
“I have little doubt from looking at both your history and your actions – especially when you gave Tramadol to your daughter while she was in hospital – that you were in your own blunt and clumsy way making a effort to make your daughter’s condition such that it might help with your benefits claims.”
