A woman who abandoned two children in a squalid house which police described as a health hazard has been warned she could be sent to prison.
The youngsters were found with no adult supervision in a house which stank of urine and where a child’s bath was being used as a cat litter tray.
Bernadette Adams, 38, who was supposed to be looking after the children in a Perthshire town, was spotted several miles away with her partner David Taylor, 27.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis deferred sentence on Adams and told her he was keeping all options open because of the serious nature of the offence.
He said: “There are far too many young people who, unfortunately, experience such scenarios and often these matters end in tragedy for the child or children.”
Police officers probing a firebomb attack on a car owned by Adams’ former lover David Elliot found the children wandering around the filthy house unsupervised.
Adams admitted neglecting the children on May 15 last year at the same time she was reportedly seen near Mr Elliot’s blazing car 12 miles away in Perth.
She pled guilty to exposing the children to unnecessary suffering or injury by leaving them in a house with clothes piled up on the floor, dangerous medicine within their reach, and exposed to a cat litter tray overflowing with excrement. The charge stated she had left them in the care of a teenager.
Adams, who has previously been sued by senior Catholic priests over another filthy rented flat, also admitted acting in a threatening or abusive manner towards Mr Elliot on December 15.
Depute fiscal Michael Sweeney told Perth Sheriff Court: “Both children’s beds were being used by a cat and there was a repugnant smell of cat urine throughout the property.
“There were bin bags piled within the garden, to such an extent officers commented this was a health hazard and, if not already, could have caused a vermin infestation.”
Adams, of Park Terrace, Auchterarder, and Taylor were cleared of firebombing Mr Elliot’s car in November.
