06/03/2009

Mum Jailed For Toddler Fire Death

A mother whose 'Home Alone' daughter died in a house fire, has been jailed.

Michelle Brown, 37, of Oxford Street, Coventry, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years for causing or allowing the 22-month-old toddler's death and perverting the course of justice.

Jodie Ann Brown died from smoke inhalation after an electrical fire broke out at her home on July 15 last year.

A jury at Coventry Crown Court, yesterday (Thursday) heard Michelle Brown had left her young daughter unsupervised in an upstairs bedroom while she attended a County Court hearing in the city, relating to one of her other children.

Brown, who had three children living in England and two more in her native Jamaica, was known to social services, the court heard.

During the two-week trial it emerged Jodie Ann was in the unventilated room when a "slow, smouldering" fire broke out.

The prosecution said she had no chance of escape as both the bedroom door and window were shut.

The 37-year-old had claimed she left the toddler in the care of a friend, and told police Jodie Ann was alive and playing when she returned from the court hearing.

However, she was filmed on CCTV cameras carrying her daughter in her arms.

She eventually phoned an ambulance from a nearby hairdresser's, but her daughter was declared dead later.

Brown broke down in tears when the verdicts were read out.

(JM/BMcC)

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