A BLACKBURN woman left her three-year-old daughter home alone while she visited a friend in the middle of the night, a court heard.

Her boyfriend discovered what had happened when he returned from a night shift, intending to collect a suitcase and leave her. He called the police who went on to find the house in a 'complete mess' and the child with a dirty face and hands.

The woman, 28, who cannot be named in order to protect the child's identity, had pleaded guilty to a charge of child neglect. She was placed on two years supervision.

Judge Anthony Russell QC at Preston Crown Court said: "This was very irresponsible of you. I'm sure you now appreciate that had she woken, she might have been frightened indeed to find no-one in the house.

"Possibly in her distress, she might have injured herself. This house was in a pretty disgraceful state and the child was in a pretty poor state as well."

Miss Louise Whaites, prosecuting, said the woman had taken the child on a visit to a friend's house earlier that night. They returned home at 2.30am, but at 4.30am, the woman left to go back to the friend's address.

She stayed there until about 8am.

The woman went on to tell police she had gone back to the friend's house during the night to collect some medication she had left there. She had taken amphetamine that evening.

Mr Daniel Prowse, defending, said: "It seems the defendant had a partial breakdown at the time. She is working hard to try to get custody of her children back again."