A mother who waited several hours before taking her one-year-old son to hospital following an attack on him by her partner has been spared jail.

The Lowestoft woman, aged in her 20s, claimed she was unable to seek medical attention for her toddler after he'd been assaulted as she was afraid of her then-boyfriend.

The man, who is also from Lowestoft and in his 20s, pushed the toddler, causing him to hit his head, and repeatedly slapped him, before "bragging" in messages to the mother.

He was previously jailed for 20 months for the assault.

Returning to Ipswich Crown Court on Friday, March 26, the mother, who cannot be named to protect the child's identity, pleaded guilty to cruelty to a person under 16 years old.

Suffolk Police were called at around 9.30am the morning after the attack in 2019, where officers instructed the woman to take her son to hospital urgently.

However, the pair did not attend the James Paget Hospital's A&E department until almost 2pm later that day.

Representing the mother, Hugh Vass told the court her inaction was out of character and that she had shown "genuine remorse" in the two years following her arrest.

He said: "She was in a relationship with the perpetrator of the violence and put that ahead of her duty to look after the welfare of her children.

"She feels she has let down all of her children by virtue of the fact they have now been taken away from her.

"This is a woman who has done something she bitterly regrets and has lost her good name and her children."

Sentencing the mother, who had no previous convictions, to a two year community order, involving 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days, judge Emma Peters said: "It should have been abundantly clear to you when you got home, especially given the text your partner sent you essentially bragging and showing amusement over what he'd done to this child.

"If it wasn't, when you saw the bruising the next morning, the fact you delayed for a few hours more is utterly shameful.

"I hope the lessons you have learned from your failures ensure that never again shall you let a child of yours be put in this position."