A WOMAN with a history of heroin addiction gave methadone to a two-month-old baby over a period of ten days, a court was told.

Claire Middleton was caught after staff at a Blackburn women's refuge became concerned and put her under surveillance in January this year.

From that date the baby, which can not be identified for legal reasons, displayed signs of drug withdrawal and she became more alert, Preston Crown Court heard.

A test of the baby's urine by medical staff at Queen's Park Hospital on January 29 proved positive for methadone.

Middleton pleaded guilty to child cruelty and was given a two-year community rehabilitation order, despite the court being told that the offences were serious enough to merit a jail term.

The court was told that Middleton initially denied she had administered the baby methadone and said it must have come into contact with the drug through different means.

Police and social services were informed on February 7. Middleton was seen by police when she again denied giving the baby methadone. But she was later charged and pleaded guilty to cruelty to a person under 16, in court on November 6.

Peter Warne, defending, told the court: "Clearly exposure to methadone has been extremely dangerous. The Crown aren't able to say what symptoms the baby still suffers as a result of this exposure."

Glasgow-born Middleton had past convictions of drug-related offences and of shop-lifting, the court was told.

Judge Byrne told Middleton that he had paid particular attention to a pre-sentence report which recommended that she did not serve a custodial sentence for her crime but instead faced a community rehabilitation programme.

He said: "Of itself this offence is so serious that it merits custody, but there other reasons why that is not the appropriate stance in this case."

Middleton was warned by the judge that if she did not comply with the order she would by brought before him again and sent to prison.

DC Jane Lawrenson, of the public protection unit in Accrington police station, who investigated the case, said: "This was a very sad case, the defendant is a victim as well as the child. One message I would get across to people is that they should not think methadone is not as bad as heroin. It is. It's as dangerous as heroin and, obviously, in a young child it can be fatal."