‘DEFINITELY Britain’s worst mum’ was the verdict of one of Rebecca Stevenson’s furious neighbours yesterday.

Blackburn mum, 22, left four children home alone for 24-hour binge

Stevenson she was given a suspended sentenced after pleading guilty to four charges of child cruelty, leaving them home alone to go on a 24-hour drink and drugs binge.

Jane Tofts, herself a mother of three, from nearby Infirmary Street, said residents in the area had been talking about the case and were all ‘disgusted’.

She said: “I think it is disgraceful and a real shame for those kids.

"She must have had people around that could help her out.

"My youngest child is 11 and I wouldn’t dream of leaving her alone for that amount of time.I’m gobsmacked.

"She calls herself a mum: that’s not a mum.”

Next-door neighbours Chester Murphy, 40, and his wife Julie, 50 – grandparents of six – said they were planning to move out because of Stevenson’s all-night partying and noise.

Meanwhile a councillor has criticised the decision not to jail Stevenson.

The judge could have issued a jail sentence of up to two years.

Coun John Milburn, whose ward covers the area where Stevenson lived, said: “This has not sent out the right message.

"The fact that she’s not got an immediate jail sentence will not deter other people.

“I’m a grandparent and it’s just something which is a parental instinct never to leave your children of that age unsupervised.”

Detective Inspector Jill Johnston, who led the investigation, said it was disgraceful behaviour from a mother who failed to provide appropriate care.

She said the professionalism of the police had ensured the children did not suffer serious injuries.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw said he was appalled.

Gladys Rhodes, strategic director of Blackburn with Darwen children’s services, said they could not comment on individual cases.

The two girls are now in the custody of Stevenson’s maternal grandparents, and the boys are with their natural father in Berwick-upon-Tweed.