Mum leaves children home alone for three-week holiday abroad
A woman left her two children aged 10 and 13 home alone to go on a three-week holiday abroad for a family wedding.
The mother, who lives in Greater Manchester, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of child neglect when she returned from the trip to Nigeria .
When police visited the family home in Salford, they found that the children were left without food or heat, Manchester Evening News reports. They continued to go to school while their mum was away.
According to the Daily Mirror, it is believed she intended to return to the UK later in February but came back early when she was alerted that police were investigating her children being alone.
In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said: "A woman has been arrested on suspicion of child neglect. The female was arrested having re-entered the country in February 2015. The female has been bailed for further enquiries.
"Two children are now in the care of the local authority. It is believed that the female left the UK in mid-January 2015."
Last year, a pregnant woman from Birmingham abandoned her six children and went on a six-week sunshine holiday in Australia with a boyfriend she met online.
The 43-year-old mum told her children she was going to the supermarket but instead went to Birmingham Airport to catch a flight.
Birmingham Crown Court heard how she effectively left her 14-year-old son in charge of his siblings, including the youngest aged three.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to six counts of wilful abandonment.
Police were alerted after her teenage son called his grandparents.
Judge Murray Creed sentenced her to a six month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and said it was a "serious matter" but that her children had been brought up in a "satisfactory and supportive way."
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