They start young these days

[expat]

The prosecutor and judge are right though: you can't inhale without discomfort (or aven at all, at first) without a bit of practice. So he clearly already has the habit.

[Mich the Tester]

Mother guilty over smoking boy, 3
A three-year-old boy lit a cigarette butt and smoked it in front of his mother, Merthyr Crown Court has heard.

The incident was filmed on a mobile and passed to social services by a friend of the boy's mother Kelly Marie Pocock.

The friend earlier spotted him smoking a cigarette and said it looked like he had been "smoking for many years".

The judge said it was an appalling case and Pocock, 24, from Merthyr Vale, was sentenced to 40 weeks suspended for two years after admitting child cruelty.

Just as EO was saying we'd heard nothing from Wales for a while.

[ratewhore]

...but I clearly remember my mum giving me a cigarette at roughly that age and letting me have one.

I award you the Bulltulipter of the day award. Well done!!!

[EternalOptimist]

Well that explains what you look like in your Avatar. You don't have to use an actual pic of yourself for those you know

swine

[DaveB]

When I was three I used to smoke a hubbly bubbly pipe and sh@g my mums best friend. Then I used to bet on the nags, won a grand on Foinavon when I was three and a half.


no I just made all that up. bored

Well that explains what you look like in your Avatar. You don't have to use an actual pic of yourself for those you know

[EternalOptimist]

am i getting this right? Your mum let you smoke a fag at 3 years old? FFS!

When I was three I used to smoke a hubbly bubbly pipe and sh@g my mums best friend. Then I used to bet on the nags, won a grand on Foinavon when I was three and a half.


no I just made all that up. bored

[Torran]

Interesting Daily Mail type outrage, but I clearly remember my mum giving me a cigarette at roughly that age and letting me have one. I got through three before chucking my guts up and have never touched one since.

Now should my mother have been locked up and me taken into care, or did she do a good thing by putting me off at a very young age?

The other thing to remember is that children of that age like to copy what their parents are doing and pick things up very quickly. Slack mother for leaving things like cigarette's and lighters lying around, but is this just a mountain made out of a molehill? I suspect we will never know the full story, but this so called friend would never be allowed near my house again if she had done that to me.....

am i getting this right? Your mum let you smoke a fag at 3 years old? FFS!

[Money Money Money]

Interesting Daily Mail type outrage, but I clearly remember my mum giving me a cigarette at roughly that age and letting me have one. I got through three before chucking my guts up and have never touched one since.

Now should my mother have been locked up and me taken into care, or did she do a good thing by putting me off at a very young age?

The other thing to remember is that children of that age like to copy what their parents are doing and pick things up very quickly. Slack mother for leaving things like cigarette's and lighters lying around, but is this just a mountain made out of a molehill? I suspect we will never know the full story, but this so called friend would never be allowed near my house again if she had done that to me.....

Your mum gave you 3 fags at the age of 3??? 3???

[gingerjedi]

The friend earlier spotted him smoking a cigarette and said it looked like he had been "smoking for many years".

I doubt it. My 14 month old can’t get a spoon to her mouth without spilling food all down her front so I very much doubt a baby would have the dexterity to light a cigarette until it was at least 18 months old.

[Ardesco]

Interesting Daily Mail type outrage, but I clearly remember my mum giving me a cigarette at roughly that age and letting me have one. I got through three before chucking my guts up and have never touched one since.

Now should my mother have been locked up and me taken into care, or did she do a good thing by putting me off at a very young age?

The other thing to remember is that children of that age like to copy what their parents are doing and pick things up very quickly. Slack mother for leaving things like cigarette's and lighters lying around, but is this just a mountain made out of a molehill? I suspect we will never know the full story, but this so called friend would never be allowed near my house again if she had done that to me.....

[Beefy198]

Pocock, 24, from Merthyr Vale, was sentenced to 40 weeks suspended for two years after admitting child cruelty.

But Judge John Curran said he did not jail Pocock because of her "considerable efforts" since the incident.

[...]

Mr Rees said Ms Dudley had gone looking for the boy after he had been missing for 30 minutes.

Excellent parenting!

[BrowneIssue]

I stopped smoking because I couldn't afford it financially.

WTF would one allow one's sprog to develop such an expensive habit? Mentalist.

[Bagpuss]

Mother guilty over smoking boy, 3
A three-year-old boy lit a cigarette butt and smoked it in front of his mother, Merthyr Crown Court has heard.

The incident was filmed on a mobile and passed to social services by a friend of the boy's mother Kelly Marie Pocock.

The friend earlier spotted him smoking a cigarette and said it looked like he had been "smoking for many years".

The judge said it was an appalling case and Pocock, 24, from Merthyr Vale, was sentenced to 40 weeks suspended for two years after admitting child cruelty.

But Judge John Curran said he did not jail Pocock because of her "considerable efforts" since the incident.

Prosecutor Jonathan Rees told the court Pocock's friend Natasha Dudley filmed the events after visiting her home just after Christmas 2007.

Mr Rees said Ms Dudley had gone looking for the boy after he had been missing for 30 minutes.


"She found him underneath the bed with some cigarettes," said Mr Rees.

"He was actually smoking one at the time and Ms Dudley said it looked like he had been smoking for many years."

The court heard that when the boy was taken downstairs he went into the living room where he picked up a cigarette butt from an ashtray and smoked it.

Mr Rees said at this point, Pocock was having a telephone conversation so Ms Dudley decided to film the boy, such was her concern.

"The video demonstrates the boy placing a cigarette into his mouth, lighting it with a lighter and sucking, drawing smoke clearly into the lungs and he seems to do it with some accomplishment," said Mr Rees.

"It doesn't cause him any discomfort. He is sat on a chair close to the mother, who is talking on the phone.

"It is clear that the boy, at the age of three, knows what to do with a lighter and cigarette."

The video was forwarded to social services who then referred the matter to the police.

In interview, Pocock told officers that she did not appreciate the fact that her son was smoking as she was on the telephone.

She also told officers that she was "shocked" when the matter was drawn to her attention.

After being charged, Pocock entered a guilty plea on the basis that she had not seen her son smoking before and had not been told of the incident underneath the bed by Ms Dudley.


Claire Wilks, defending, asked Judge Curran to bear in mind the early guilty plea by her client.

"Fortunately time has now passed and in that time the defendant has been able to prove herself both to her children and, perhaps more importantly, their social worker," said Ms Wilks.

The court heard she had attended six parenting courses since the incident.

Judge Curran said the case was one of the most "extraordinary" he had ever come across.

The judge said the boy would not have been able to smoke without discomfort "unless he had acquired a habit".

"This is an appalling situation and I don't see how, despite your basis of plea, you could have been unaware of the fact," said Judge Curran.

The judge added that while the offence would normally cross the custody threshold, he did not want to cause her children any further emotional harm by separating them from their mother.

Apart from the suspended sentence, Judge Curran imposed a 12 month supervision requirement.