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

The mother told family members that her son needed the wheelchair because he was in pain and suffered from joint swelling and mobility problems. He was referred seven times to paediatricians who carried out blood tests, but they could find no explanation.

He was given medication by his GP after she said that the youngster was having fits and chronic constipation. But when she gave him an overdose, he suffered a seizure and paramedics discovered her trying to hide the medicine.

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. He had seven referrals to paediatricians but no abnormality was found."

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

She was jailed after pleading guilty to three charges of child cruelty and one of administering a noxious substance between 1999 and 2006. She was also banned for life from working with children.