A mum passed out while under the influence of alcohol only to wake up to discover her baby died.
Claire Ross, 39, had struggled with severe mental illness which only drove her crippling alcohol addiction, a court heard. After the tragic death of her first baby, her case was not referred to social services until the same thing happened to another one of her children.
The double tragedy happened shortly after she moved from Merseyside to Nyon, Switzerland, in 2018. However, her alcoholism had already caused issues before she moved.
In 2017, her three-year-old eldest daughter was put at severe risk when Ross drove down the M62 while four and a half times over the legal limit. Ross, from St Helens, moved to Switzerland with her husband, Ian Ross, and their eldest child in 2017, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Later that year, her second daughter, aged just two months, tragically died. However, social services did nothing even after her third daughter's birth in February 2020.
In July 2020, Ross passed out drunk on top of the now five-month-old girl. The eldest child, now six, walked in on the horrific scene, leading to Ross being charged with negligent homicide.
However, a tribunal of judges at the Criminal Court of La Côte said she was "released from the sanction of negligent homicide" because she was suffering from severe mental illness. The tribunal ordered her to undergo compulsory treatment after the tribunal president Patricia Cornaz declared Ross was suffering from a personality disorder and "borderline traits" that meant she had no control over her "binge drinking"
During the trial her solicitor, Patrick Rutter, had said: "How could such a tragedy happen and happen again? Why didn't social services act? The facts are clear and hard to dispute. We have expertise this time with a diagnosis and a serious clinical picture.
"My client's liability is nil. She didn't even realise anymore that she was putting herself and her children in danger. She must be released from all offences. I ask that she be exempted from any penalty... She's been punished enough already."
The court heard how Ross had taken the two-month-old girl to bed after drinking heavily in 2018 and proceeding to pass out, discovering the baby had died upon waking up. While an investigation was carried out by local prosecutors, it was shortly dropped after an autopsy failed to find a clear cause of death, leaving the chance that the baby died of natural causes.
Once again in July 2020, Ross got heavily drunk in the morning with the court hearing how she left her six-year-old in front of the TV before taking the five-month-old baby to bed. She proceeded to pass out on top of the baby girl.
The six-year-old heard strange cries coming from the room and tried to free the baby, unfortunately, she was unable to wake up her passed-out mum. After pulling her baby sister free and placing her in a pram, the eldest daughter ran to get help from a neighbour who was unable to wake up Ross.
She called the emergency services who rushed the baby to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. Following the tragic incident, the prosecutions pursued a criminal investigation while a post-mortem revealed the baby died of suffocation.
It was also revealed that Ross' alcoholism preceded her arrival in Switzerland. In 2017, Liverpool Magistrates' Court heard how police came across Ross' white lexus on the hard shoulder of the M62 with a burst tyre.
Officers went to see if they could assist the driver, however, they discovered Ross in the driver seat drunk alongside a bag of vomit in the front passenger seat. Ross told the officers her toddler was in the back-seat, despite the fact they couldn't see anyone else in the car.
It was later recalled that her husband had driven to the scene to collect the child while leaving his wife to wait for the breakdown services. Lynn Clark, prosecuting told the court how the officers "noticed an overwhelming smell of alcohol, and noted her eyes were bloodshot and glazed, and that she was slurring her words".
She admitted to driving with excess alcohol and was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and was referred to the Probation Service for five rehabilitation activity days. Following the death of her second child, Ross was caught drunk driving in Switzerland after being found in her car outside a consultation she was attending.
Prosecutors in Nyon described the death of her second child as a "remake in all respects" of the tragedy that took place in 2018. Ross' solicitor, Patrick Stutter, also told the court how she had been failed by mental health services while he was "convinced" that if a diagnosis had been made in 2018 than the death of the second child could have been avoided.
Ross also addressed the court, telling judges: "I understood and accepted that I had no control over alcohol". Speaking in English, she said she had been sober since October 2020, and that "peace" had returned to her family, even if "the reconstruction phase" was not yet over.
Judge Cornaz, referring to the opinion of psychiatric experts, said today: "Given her pathology, it was not possible for her to resist...Her internal conflicts became so unbearable that they had to be evacuated by a practice of binge drinking...She didn't even realise that she was putting her children in danger."
Ross was ordered by the court to continue psychiatric and addiction treatment for "as long as necessary" to prevent "reoccurrence". According to Swiss reports, prosecutor Jean-Marie Ruede noted he was satisfied over the verdict.
He said: "She is certainly acquitted in criminal matters, but she will have to live with two deaths on her conscience." Since the incident, the eldest child was taken into care but has since been returned to the family, although the court was told she is being monitored buy a child psychologist and is "doing well".
Read next:
-
Leave a message of support for Team England in The Commonwealth Games
-
Male stabbed and woman hurt at street party - a boy, 14, was arrested
-
Person whose mate was sick at bar sends £20 tip to member of staff who had to clean it up
-
Sainsbury's drivers forced to drive without air conditioning during heatwave due to 'insane' reason
