A VULNERABLE mother who failed to protect her two-year-old daughter from her violent partner has been spared an immediate jail sentence.

The Bradford woman lied to hospital staff, pretending the little girl had fallen out of bed after the man slapped her round the head causing extensive bruising.

The woman, who was in her early 20s when her daughter was repeatedly attacked, admitted a charge of child cruelty.

She was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a rehabilitation activity requirement with the probation service.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the Crown accepted that the mother, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, had never injured her.

The violence, over a five-month period, was carried out by the young woman’s partner who had assaulted two children in a previous relationship, it was stated.

He was told not to live with the mother and her young daughter but he moved into their Bradford home.

When the girl suffered two black eyes, a scratched nose, lacerations and bruising to her arms and shin, the woman told hospital staff she had fallen out of bed. The child was kept in hospital overnight and a CT scan revealed extensive soft tissue swelling to her head consistent with being hit with a blunt instrument.

The woman went on to tell the police she had seen the man slapping her daughter round the head and he had pushed her chair when she was eating causing her to fall and hit her head.

The mother, who had previously been the victim of domestic violence, said the man took her phone off her and told her not to call for help.

The court heard she had no previous convictions and was vulnerable to abuse and intimidation.

Her former partner had been arrested and interviewed on suspicion of assaulting the child but never charged.

The woman’s barrister, Kitty Colley, said the little girl had been permanently taken away from her.

Judge Jonathan Rose said she had been “in the wrong relationship with the wrong man.”

“You failed your own daughter,” he told her.

She knew the man had been violent towards children and was warned not to have him in the house. The child was injured on a number of occasions and the woman had failed to intervene and then lied to hospital staff. But probation and psychological reports said that she needed help.

She was vulnerable to pressure and predisposed to find herself in abusive relationships.

Judge Rose said the little girl hadn’t been taken from her as a punishment but to protect the child in the future.