A mother wept as she was jailed for 15 months after leaving her 15-month-old daughter at home alone for a week while she went out drinking.

The 20-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, neglected the toddler in what Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court in Wales, the United Kingdom, heard was a ‘cold and dark house, reports the Daily Mail.

The woman would only ‘pop back’ once a day to feed the toddler breakfast cereal and a microwave meal before returning to a friend’s house to continue drinking.

The crime was only discovered when neighbours contacted police after hearing the child screaming. The court heard that when police arrived they found the house in darkness with no heating switched on.

Prosecutor Michael Hammett said: "The house was in a state of disarray with rubbish, dirty clothes, empty wine bottles, beer cans and dirty nappies strewn over the floors.

"One of the officers went into the bedroom and found the little girl subdued in her crib.

"There was no heating on in the house and she was partly covered by a blanket.

"When they gave her food and drink she grabbed them as if she had been starved."

The mother had earlier pleaded guilty to neglect between Boxing Day and January 2. She later told police she had been back to the house on four occasions to feed her baby but then left her alone again.

A prosecutor at a previous hearing said ‘"The officer saw the child lying in the crib. There was a strong smell of urine. Her clothes were stinking dirty and had not been changed for several days."

Jailing her at Merthyr Crown Court, Judge John Curran told the mother: “You may have gone back to the house on occasions but the fact is you neglected her for a very long time.

“Your daughter was left in the dark and cold, she was hungry and thirsty and had not been changed for days.”