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| Mother jailed for baby drug death | Mother jailed for baby drug death |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A drug addict whose baby son died from an overdose of the heroin substitute methadone has been jailed. | A drug addict whose baby son died from an overdose of the heroin substitute methadone has been jailed. |
| Mitchell Bate, aged 22 months, was found dead at home in Rodney Street, Hartlepool, Teesside in September 2005. | Mitchell Bate, aged 22 months, was found dead at home in Rodney Street, Hartlepool, Teesside in September 2005. |
| Gemma Fennelly, 25, of Edinburgh Grove, was given a two-year sentence at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday. | Gemma Fennelly, 25, of Edinburgh Grove, was given a two-year sentence at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday. |
| Last month, she admitted manslaughter by gross negligence for allowing or failing to prevent her son from swallowing a lethal dose of the drug. | |
| The baby's father, Mark Bate, 34, was cleared of manslaughter after the prosecution offered no evidence against him. | |
| At the trial, which was halted in October, prosecutors said the case was tragic, but no "wickedness" was alleged on the part of the baby's mother. | |
| Fennelly had originally been accused of giving her son the prescription drug to keep him quiet. | |
| The court heard the medication was kept in a locked metal box on a kitchen shelf which Mitchell would barely have been able to reach. |