A three year old girl has died from a heart attack after ingesting cocaine brought into her home by her father.
The unnamed child was admitted to hospital with suspected sepsis or meningitis, but collapsed and died on April 6 last year.
A post-mortem then revealed she had cocaine in her blood.
Her parents blamed each other for bringing drugs into the property, with the father claiming her mother had left cocaine in a bedroom drawer.
Their other four children were removed from the household.
Judge Justice Williams has ruled that the child’s father ‘carelessly’ brought the cocaine into the house, ‘in connection with his drug-related activities’.
He said it was probable the drug-dealer had ‘brought the cocaine onto the premises’ and ‘processed it in some way in an area which the children would have access to’.
Exactly how the girl came to ingest the cocaine remains unclear, the judge said.
He also blamed the mother for being ‘well aware’ of the dad bringing drugs into the property, as she was also using them herself.
He went on: ‘It seems most probable that she turned a blind eye or persuaded herself that sufficient precautions were being taken to protect the children.
He added: ‘If ever there was a lesson of the perils of drug misuse, this provides it’.
The girl had been living in London at the time of her death, and six arrests were made in connection with the case last year, a spokesperson for the Met Police said.
All were released under investigation, but an investigation led by a specialist crime command is still ongoing.
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