Wheelchair lie mother is jailed

A mother who convinced her son he could not walk and kept him in a wheelchair for five years has been jailed.

The Middlesbrough woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had kept the boy dependent on her from the age of three, Teesside Crown Court heard.

She convinced doctors he needed treatment, but was caught hiding medicine after giving him an overdose.

Prosecutor Peter Makepeace told the court: "She succeeded in engendering in him the belief that he needed a wheelchair and that he had a condition for five and a half years. This significantly hampered his mobility and social development."

Judge Les Spittle told her that she had "robbed him of a normal childhood".

She admitted child cruelty and administering a noxious substance, and was jailed for four years.