A mother was arrested after leaving her six children home alone to go on a trip to Australia for almost two months with her boyfriend.
The unnamed woman, from Birmingham, left her 14-year-old son in charge and told him that she was just going to the supermarket before she disappeared, reported BBC. Four hours without his mother returning home the teen called his grandparents, who then alerted the authorities.
The youngest of her children left behind was 3-years-old.
The missing woman's parents and the police were calling her, but she ignored their calls, reported BBC. She preceded to delete all of her social media accounts. She didn't come back home until her planned departure six-weeks-later.
The woman was arrested upon her return.
Judge Murray Creed, who sentenced the woman to six months in prison, called the case "plainly a serious matter."
The woman admitted in court that the six week plane ticket was bought by a man she met online, BBC reported.
"You've cared for them against a difficult background," Creed said to the mother in court. "You didn't appreciate you'd done anything wrong and were not prepared to return."
John Smitheman, who is defending the woman, said in court the stress of bringing up the children alone led to this "very unusual, almost unique circumstance." The children apparently had been brought up in "a satisfactory and supportive way throughout their lives so far" before she left them for her trip.
The children are now living with their grandparents.
