A YOUNG mother being investigated for child cruelty hinted that she knew of parents who stubbed out cigarettes on their children to keep them quiet, a court heard.

Charlotte Sutton would not reveal names to social worker Emma Arnold but said that what they did was horrible and the practice had now ceased.

Sutton admitted that she was responsible for burn marks on the shoulder and back of her daughter, 15 months old at the time, but said it was an accident.Sutton, aged 18, of Cranham Drive, Warndon, Worcester, has pleaded not guilty at Worcester Crown Court to causing unnecessary suffering on May 31 last year.

Social services were contacted after Joe and Pauline Eaton noticed the marks on their granddaughter’s back.

Experts gave evidence that the burn marks were unlikely to have been caused accidentally. In a police interview, Sutton said she had been smoking a cigarette outside McDonald’s when the tip dropped off and, unknown to her, went down her daughter’s clothing.

The child had cried out and seemed to be holding her breath. Sutton picked her up and comforted her by rubbing her back but there was no sign of cigarette ash. It was only when she was bathing her at home that she noticed blisters on the skin. Sutton claimed that Miss Arnold had invented the conversation about mothers burning their children to keep them quiet.

She denied a suggestion that she had handed over her daughter to the grandparents because she realised she was an unfit mother and unable to cope.

She had contacted them from hospital after she had taken too many painkillers in a bid to stave off earache and she had her daughter with her. Sutton was questioned about two notes written in her name, one to her daughter’s father, which suggested that she was unable to cope. She claimed her mother-in-law had intimidated her into compiling one of them.

She admitted her daughter had “temper tantrums” but she was able to cope and would never have stubbed her with a lit cigarette. The trial continues.