By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 13:00, Wednesday, 10 February 2010

A young mum who attacked her three-year-old son in Carlisle city centre could be facing a jail sentence.

A court heard the woman hit the boy across the face with a plastic toy sword in The Lanes shopping centre after losing her temper.

She had earlier dragged him up the street by his jacket before going on to assault him.

City magistrates warned the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, that her crime was so serious they could not rule out custody.

The woman admitted assault.

Carlisle Magistrates’ Court was told the mum was arrested after being spotted by security guards on January 21.

The guards had first been alerted after the boy was seen crying on Scotch Street, with his mum stood further up the road shouting at him.

Adrienne Harris, prosecuting, told Carlisle Magistrates’ Court she had then “seemed to pick him up by his hood” and his feet left the ground.

Claire Kirkpatrick, defending, said the boy had seen something in a shop window and then had a tantrum. He had not been injured.

“She (the mother) said at the time it all happened really quickly,” she told the court.

“It’s clear that it was a short-lived incident. She accepts she was cross with him. That is why she did it.”

The case was adjourned until March 2 so reports could be prepared for the magistrates.

First published at 11:25, Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk