Woman, 24, admits leaving one-year-old to drown in a bath while she spent 45 minutes drinking with a neighbour

Danielle Reeves, 24, from Caterham, Surrey accepted she consumed some wine but said she 'wasn't drunk'

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A woman has admitted letting a toddler drown in a bath by leaving him alone while she had a 45-minute drink with a friend.
Danielle Reeves, 24, had been looking after the one-year-old boy at a house in Surrey.

She admitted a charge of manslaughter after dramatically changing her plea when she appeared before a judge at Guildford Crown Court.

Her voice trembled as she stated 'guilty' after her barrister had asked for the charge to be put to her again.

The judge ordered reports to be compiled on Reeves by the Probation Service and a psychiatrist before he sentences her later this summer.

Emergency services were called to a house in September last year after the boy was found lifeless in the water.

Police arrested the defendant amid suspicions she had been drinking at the time.

She initially denied the allegations against her but admitted she was to blame when she appeared in the dock.
Judge Christopher Critchlow was briefly told that Reeves was making her admission on the basis that she had left the youngster for around three-quarters of an hour and had been talking to a neighbour and that the boy was just out of sight.

She also accepted she consumed some wine but 'wasn’t drunk.'
The guilt was on the basis of 'gross negligence,' the court was told.

Aisling Byrnes, defending, asked for sentencing to be adjourned and urged Judge Critchlow to release her client on bail again in the meantime.

Trial: She initially denied the allegations against her but admitted she was to blame when she appeared in the dock at Guildford Crown Court

'She has attended court today in full knowledge that she was going to enter a plea to this serious charge,' she said.

'She’s aware that a sentence for a case such as this is likely to be a sentence of immediate imprisonment.'

She added that her client’s appointments with probationers and psychiatrists would be much easier to carry out on bail rather than in prison.

Judge Critchlow agreed to postpone the sentencing and told the defence and prosecuting counsel, Ruby Selva, that he would deal with the matter on July 30.

He re-admitted Reeves, of Stirling Drive, Caterham, Surrey, to bail on the same conditions as previously - a night time curfew, electronic tagging and that she does not go within 400 metres of a specific address in Redhill, Surrey or contact or attempt to contact prosecution witnesses.

He added a further requirement, that she comply with the Probation Service in preparing the report.

Culled from The Daily Mail UK.

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