Baby girl ‘drowned in the bath after her 24-year-old mum left her alone to do the washing up’
The mum had been warned by a support worker about leaving her children in the bath just hours earlier
A YOUNG mum killed her 14-month-old baby daughter after leaving her alone in the bathtub while she did the washing up, a court heard.
Jasmine Gregory had already been told by a support worker just hours earlier not to leave her children alone in the bath.
The 24-year-old allegedly drunk a bottle of cider and forgot where she had left little Robyn Andrews-English.
Jurors heard that Gregory frantically fled her home asking random passers-by where the youngster was before she was seen holding the tragic tot's lifeless body.
Robyn had been lying face down in the bath water on August 7, 2014, the court was told.
Gregory is standing trial at Oxford Crown Court accused of manslaughter and a lesser alternative of child neglect.
The jury was told that support worker Carla Diddock had told Gregory not to leave her children alone in the bath only hours before Robyn died.
Prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC said: "She left her 14-month-old baby in an adult bath without any physical sort of support, unattended for long enough to be able to drown and that the Crown says that is an act the law calls gross negligence.
"Jasmine Gregory has pleaded not guilty to both offences. The defence is going to call, as part of its case, expert evidence to the effect that she has a personality disorder, which the defence is going to argue is relevant to whether she is guilty of either of the two charges she is facing."
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Margaret Jacobs and Stephanie Toms both saw the young mum coming out of her home, shouting "have you seen my baby?";
Ms Toms said she found Gregory holding her daughter's body at the house in Wantage, Oxfordshire, before she grabbed hold of "limp and grey" Robyn and rushed her to a nearby doctor's surgery.
Jurors were told Gregory told a doctor that she had left Robyn in the bath for 10 minutes while she did the washing-up.
She then suddenly told the doctor she smelled and washed her face and insisted on spraying herself with body spray before she and Robyn were taken to a hospital.
Mr Saxby said that Gregory repeatedly said: "She is dead, it is my fault, I am going to kill myself. I've been so busy."
"She said 'I was doing the washing up'," the prosecutor added.
The emergency services, including an air ambulance, attended but Robyn was pronounced dead at 3.30pm at John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.
Officers who later searched Gregory's home found an empty bottle of cider by the kitchen sink.
Judge Ian Pringle earlier allowed Gregory to sit outside the courtroom after she started crying while the prosecution opened the case.
The case continues.
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