TEARS IN DOCK AS TEEN MUM ADMITS TO BREAKING TOT'S RIBS

A MUM who caused bleeding on the brain and broken ribs to her baby has been spared jail.

- CARL JACKSON Court Reporter

Luci Nicholls confessed to inflicting the injuries after they were revealed by scans but she has failed to explain how they occurred.

At one stage the then 19-year-old blamed her ex-partner, the baby's father, but the case was dropped against him after she accepted she was responsible, leading to a backlash on social media.

Nicholls, who lived in Erdington at the time, was criticised by a judge for never having had a proper job or any ambition.

But she avoided being sent to jail at Birmingham Crown Court this week where she cried in the dock and clutched a blue teddy bear.

Nicholls, now 23, was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years having pleaded guilty to causing serious physical harm to a child.

Soon after she gave birth to her baby midwives soon noticed it was failing to put on weight.

Prosecutor Olivia Whitworth said: "There were also concerns about the defendant living in temporary accommodation and the fact she had little or no support, with her family living in Nuneaton." A consultant paediatrician advised Nicholls to take her baby to Good Hope Hospital.

Whilst there, a nurse observed the defendant seemed angry and recalled how she lifted her baby up without supporting its head before 'plonking' the infant across her lap.

After the child was discharged health visitors attended Nicholls' home in Erdington on numerous occasions but failed to gain access or make contact with her.