Nine-year-old girl left heartbreaking note to Leeds mum who locked kids alone in house to go partying

A court heard heartbreaking details of how a nine-year-old girl had to care for her baby brother after their mum repeatedly left them home alone.

On one occasion the girl had to climb out of a window with the two-year-old boy and go to a neighbour to ask for help.

Leeds Crown Court heard the mum continued to leave the children on their own despite being arrested on suspicion of child neglect.

The woman cannot be named for legal reasons to protect the identities of her children.

The distraught child also left notes begging her mum to come home and look after them.

One read: “We have been crying for you all night and I am really worried”

The youngster also told police: “My mummy went to Tesco on Friday night and hasn’t come home. I want my mummy.”

Bashir Ahmed, prosecuting, said the woman had been a "devoted mother" until the breakdown of the relationship with the children's father 18 months before the offences.

Describing the offences, Mr Ahmed said the mum told her daughter she was going to "test her" on November 2 last year.

He said: "She left the children locked in the house with no means of communicating with them.

"There was no landline in the house, no mobile phone. She was not there when the children woke up."

Mr Ahmed said the girl showed "great maturity" in looking after her little brother by changing his nappy, feeding him and playing with him.

At some point the youngster wrote a note saying: "I have gone upstairs to bed because I can't keep my eyes open.

"Me and (her brother) love you. We miss you very much.

"Can you wake us up when you are back.

"We have been crying for you all night and I am really worried."

The prosecutor said the girl ran out of paper and continued writing the note on the kitchen table in lipstick.

The letter added: "Please come upstairs to bed with us."

The mum had still not returned home two days later.

The girl climbed out of a window with her brother to alert a neighbour.

Police were called and found the house in "a mess". The girl told officers she was scared when they went to the property.

Mr Ahmed said: "In the bedroom it was difficult to see the floor for the mess."

Police started looking for the mum and she was arrested at a house about three miles away.

She claimed to have arranged for a babysitter but did not have any credit on her phone to be able to check on the children.

The children were taken away from the mum but returned to her on November 23.