A single mum was so fed up with her squabbling daughters she left them home alone — and grabbed a one-way ticket to Spain. The divorcee yesterday said she was at breaking point after juggling two jobs and raising the girls, aged 11 and 14.
The 38-year-old told a court: “I wanted to teach them a lesson. They are always moaning.” She revealed she left £30 and a full fridge before buying a one-way ticket to the Costa del Sol.
The mum of four was arrested on her return five days later and charged with neglect of the girls. She told how she struggled to keep her family together while working long hours as a waitress after divorcing her husband two years earlier.
The woman said: “I was at rock bottom. I felt I had nowhere else to turn. I was in a blind panic and my reaction was to run away. Only a mum at the complete end of her tether might understand. I was trying to hold down two jobs and putting away money.
“It all just got too much one day and, after a row with the kids, I went up to the bedroom, threw some clothes in a suitcase and grabbed my passport. I slammed the door behind me and left my kids.” She bolted to Cardiff airport, bought the cheapest flight — a £116 one-way ticket to Malaga — and checked into a hostel.
Rhondda Magistrates’ district judge Jill Watkins said: “I can’t imagine anything more frightening for these girls than to be left high and dry.” The mum admitted exposing her daughters to unnecessary suffering and will be sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court next month.
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