Mum jailed for going to pub while daughter lay dying

A mum who left her dying daughter alone while she went to the pub has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Sharon Goldie insisted Robyn Goldie was “at it” when the 13-year-old was found slumped on the sofa.

She claimed her daughter was “attention seeking” despite the sick child begging for help and went to the pub.

After arriving home, the 45-year-old found her daughter slumped on the couch, but left her to go out to the garden to have a drink with a friend.

It was only after they eventually discovered Robyn was dead that an ambulance was finally called.

The schoolgirl had suffered a year of horrific neglect before her death including being forced to ask someone for £1 to get food.

Goldie previously pleaded guilty to a charge under the Children and Young Persons Act of wilfully ill-treating and neglecting Robyn, who died after suffering a burst stomach ulcer.

Prosecutors accepted Goldie’s not guilty plea to the culpable homicide of her daughter.

She was jailed for three years and six months at the High Court in Edinburgh on Thursday, reduced from four years because she pleaded guilty.

Sentencing her, Lord Beckett told Goldie she showed “considerable cruelty over a prolonged period” and said there was no alternative to a custodial sentence.

He said: “Even if your daughter could sometimes be challenging and difficult, she was subjected to a terrible ordeal of neglect and ill treatment by you over a long period.

“You had enough money to provide food for your daughter but chose not to and purchased alcohol and cannabis, you gave this to your daughter instead of adequate nutrition.”

Robyn had lived with Goldie until she was four before moving in with her gran.

She had earlier been put on the child protection register after Goldie was found to be drunk while supposedly caring for her daughter.

Robyn had also once been forced to call a gas company complaining of being cold.

This led to the child staying with her gran until 2017 in what was described as a “stable life”.

Robyn then returned to her mum in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, due to a number of reasons including starting secondary school. But, the court heard social workers continued to monitor the pair.

Social workers visited the pair – often un-announced – with arguing between them described as “common”. The house was also said to be stinking of cat urine.

A court previously heard how Robyn told a friend she did not like her mum drinking.

It was at this time Goldie appeared to be a regular at the Melody Bar in Wishaw.

Prosecutor Ashley Edwards QC said during a previous hearing: “Robyn was often seen attending there looking for Goldie and asking for money to buy food.

“She also often approached a neighbour asking for £1 to get food.”

Robyn once said she only had a yoghurt that day. The child was described as “thin, dirty and unkempt”.

The court heard Robyn would also film Goldie – who slapped and bit her daughter – screaming at her.

The child told friends how drunken Goldie would offer her cannabis and alcohol while “constantly” insisting she did not want her in the house.

In March 2018, Robyn was then found to have a rash caused by fleas.

The week before her death, Robyn was given painkillers after complaining of a sore stomach and legs.

On July 21, Goldie then told staff at the Melody Bar she had “locked” her daughter in the house “so she could not get out”.

The next day, Robyn complained to a friend she had been ill and not eaten for days. But, on July 24, Robyn texted her gran claiming she felt “a lot better”.

However, a friend of Goldie saw the “drained” girl that day and told the mum: “She’s just not well.”

That night, Robyn told Goldie to get help as she had “pain all over”. Her mum refused.

Another friend of Goldie said he would go with Robyn in a taxi to hospital, but she stopped him claiming the girl was “attention seeking”.

The next day, Robyn begged a neighbour to get her an ambulance as she could not breathe, but her mum yelled at her to “get in”.

On July 26, the day Robyn passed away, Goldie went to the pub despite her daughter being ill.

She then returned home with a friend to find Robyn slumped on a sofa. There was no response from Robyn.

Ms Edwards said: “Goldie and the man got another drink from the fridge and went outside ‘because the weather was nice’.”

The friend later checked on Robyn again and discovered she was dead.

An ambulance was called, but Goldie told paramedics: “She’s at it.”

On then being told her daughter had passed away, a suddenly “wailing” Goldie stated: “No, she cannot be.”

Robyn was found to have died from peritonitis as a result of a perforated ulcer. A senior medic concluded that had the teenager been treated during her illness, she would have been “expected to survive”.

The court heard Goldie – who still lives at the same house – had suffered a brain injury following a car accident when she was a child.