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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/07/nwheelchr107.xml
A mother who kept her son in a wheelchair for five years and convinced him and doctors that he could not walk has been jailed for four years.
He was only three when the woman from Middlesbrough, Teesside, launched her plot to keep him dependent on her. He was referred seven times to paediatricians who also carried out blood tests, but they could find no explanation.
advertisementThe mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told family members that he needed the wheelchair because he was in pain and he suffered from joint swelling and mobility problems.
She also lied to her GP that the youngster was having fits and chronic constipation, and he was given medication.
The boy finally suffered a fit after she gave him an overdose, and she was unmasked when an ambulance crew caught her trying to hide the medication.
She told a psychiatrist that she wanted her son to become so dependent on her that he would never leave her, said Peter Makepeace, prosecuting.
He told Teesside Crown Court: "She succeeded in engendering in him the belief that he needed a wheelchair and that he had a condition for five and a half years.
"This significantly hampered his mobility and social development. He had seven referrals to paediatricians but no abnormality was found."
Psychiatrists who examined her said that she was not mentally ill. The boy is now in care and she has not seen him since Christmas.
She pleaded guilty to three charges of child cruelty and one of administering a noxious substance between 1999 and 2006.
Judge Les Spittle told her: "You robbed him of a normal childhood.
"It is fortunate that he has not suffered any long-term physical disability but I don't know what the potential long-term psychological impact there will be."
She was jailed for four years and banned for life from working with children on her release.
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