February 2014
East Lancashire mum pleads guilty to child cruelty
A MUM from Oswaldtwistle has admitted cruelty to her baby boy after initially denying the charge in court.
Tracy McKenzie had gone on trial on Monday, along with Scott Colman, after their three-month-old son was found to have suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain.
The couple, of New Lane, had both denied cruelty to the child, but McKenzie yesterday pleaded guilty to the main charge in front of the jury at Burnley Crown Court.
Jurors then returned a guilty verdict, as governed by court procedures.
Prosecutors said they would not pursue a second charge of cruelty to a child, which related to the baby’s twin.
McKenzie, 40, will be sentenced at a later date and was granted bail.
Colman, 30, denies both charges and remains on trial.
The court will today decide how to proceed with his case.
Judge Andrew Woolman told jurors: “Miss McKenzie has admitted in front of you just now that she neglected one of the twins.
“That amounts to the offence of cruelty to a child.”
On Monday, the court heard the baby’s head injuries may have been the result of his head being hit against a flat surface or struck with a blunt instrument.
He also suffered fractures to five ribs, two vertebrae and a leg, the court heard.
Prosecutor Hugh McKee said the allegations emerged after Colman took the baby to the Royal Blackburn Hospital in December 2012, as he was unwell.
When the injuries were discovered, medics requested that the boy’s twin be examined, and they found a healing injury caused by someone ‘forcefully’ gripping his left arm, the court was told.
