A GWENT mother left her sleeping child home alone while she went clubbing, a court was told yesterday.

The 41-year-old from the Cwmbran area admitted wilfully abandoning the child, who is under the age of ten, on April 15

Prosecutor Mike Beaman told Abergavenny magistrates court that police officers received a telephone call to say a child had been left alone in a flat.

When they visited they found the child, who cannot be identified, asleep in bed with no-one else present.

He said the defendant had been seen by neighbours getting into a taxi, which took her to the Chicago Rock Cafe in Newport.

The following morning, she walked into Cwmbran police station in a distressed state.

The woman was drunk and very abusive to officers, so she was arrested. Mr Beaman added: "She admitted leaving the child at home alone, and said she'd done it once before and nothing had happened."

Stephen Ritter, defending, said psychiatric reports had been prepared, but after reading them, the magistrates decided to adjourn sentencing. Mr Ritter said the child is now being cared for by the paternal grandparents.

The woman will be sentenced at Newport crown court on September 14.