Sarah Morris guilty of letting baby girl drown in bath

Sarah Morris Image copyright Andrew Price
Image caption Sarah Morris said she left her children alone for no longer than three minutes

A mother has been found guilty of manslaughter after leaving her baby girl to drown in the bath.

Sarah Morris, 35, was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter of one-year-old Rosie on Wednesday.

Rosie drowned in waist-deep bath water at Morris's flat in Greenfield near Holywell, Flintshire, on 29 July 2015.

Mold Crown Court heard Morris spent 47 minutes talking to her partner while Rosie and her twin were alone in the bath without any baby support.

She had been on the phone to Sarah Swindells, with the conversation only ending after her partner suggested she check on the children.

Morris had been given help from Flintshire council and received a leaflet detailing the dangers of leaving children unattended in the bath just two weeks before Rosie died.

She had also been in regular contact with social workers and it was their view she was "doing an OK job".

Image caption Sarah Morris denied the manslaughter of her baby daughter

A former partner said she was in the habit of putting herself before her children and prosecutor Oliver Saxby said there was evidence of her "drinking to excess and taking drugs".

Traces of amphetamine was found in a bag in her bedroom.

Morris claimed she left her children alone for no longer than "two or three" minutes, with the court hearing she had to be stopped from banging her head on a wall when she realised Rosie was dead.

The defence claimed it was a "tragic accident" for which a loving mother, doing her best, bore no criminal responsibility.

Nicola Rees of the Crown Prosecution Service said Morris left her two young children "in an extremely vulnerable position for a prolonged period".

"The CPS presented evidence showing that Sarah Morris had been made aware, on a number of occasions, of the dangers involved in bathing young children, but nevertheless, on this particular day, she chose to put her own needs above those of her children, resulting in Rosie's tragic death from drowning," she added.

She will be sentenced later on Wednesday.