Mum ‘played mobile games’ while unattended seven-month-old son drowned in bath

A mother has been accused of playing mobile games whilst her unattended seven-month-old son drowned in a bath, a court has heard.

Danielle Massey, 31, a habitual cannabis user and “avid gamer”, maintains that she fell asleep after suffering an asthma attack after going to get Charlie Goodall a towel.

She denies that she became “distracted” from her parental duties whilst playing a video game about cooking for 26 minutes, as the prosecution has claimed.

When the baby was found unresponsive, she called emergency services who rushed to the property. The child was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle where he died.

She was later arrested and told a police officer: “It’s all my fault. I killed my baby.”

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter of her child at their home in Chilton, County Durham, in February 2022.

She also admitted to smoking cannabis the day that Goodall died, though denied that it resulted in her falling asleep on the sofa, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Both Massey and the baby had been under the close supervision of social services, but six days before the baby’s death, a decision was made for the “care plan to end” as there were no ongoing issues.

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The 31-year-old says her gross negligence is limited just to the use of the “unsuitable” bath seat from which Charlie fell.

Richard Wright KC said: “The prosecution case is that the defendant left her child unattended for a long period of time so that he fell out of his unsafe bath seat and drowned which would not have happened if he had been properly supervised as he should have been at the time.

“The defence cast the issue of whether the Crown can prove that the defendant was playing a game on her phone for 26 minutes during which time her son drowned.”

Massey insisted her phone was unlocked and the game – ‘Cooking Madness’ – was playing in the background while she dealt with her child.

She said: “I went to pick up the towel but realised I didn’t have one in the bathroom so at that point that’s when I decided I had to go get a towel. I was only planning on going to the dining table.

“At that point, I left the bathroom thinking I was only going to be a minute. I realised I took all the towels upstairs because the cat had kittens so I ran upstairs to see if I could find any clean towels.”

Massey, who was diagnosed with asthma over a decade ago, said she then sat down to catch her breath where she then closed her eyes. “I’m not 100 per cent if I fell asleep”, she said. “I was exhausted.”

Goodall’s father, who did not live with his son, was also arrested at the scene despite only arriving after the 999 was made and his former partner told him he needed to come to her home.

He was completely exonerated and released without charge.

In his evidence, he told police that his son had been placed on the child protection register in the days before his death.

The case continues.