A TEARFUL Redditch mother, who appeared before magistrates because her son did not go to school, regularly told the court she had quit her job because she was on the verge of a breakdown.

And Richard Jones, prosecuting, said the distraught mum claimed she "didn't care and wouldn't mind going to prison for a rest" when it was explained to her there would be no alternative but to prosecute following her son's lack of attendance.

He added the nine-year-old, the youngest of four, failed to regularly attend school between February 18 and July 12.

The woman was given a six-month conditional discharge at Droitwich Magistrates Court last week.

She said: "A lot of other things were going on at the time and I got to the point where things just got on top of me so I thought, 'to hell with it, I'd rather go to jail.'

"I know it's not the way out but sometimes when you have no-one to turn to, you just say these things."

She added she had brought her son up for nine years on her own.

"I have family but we don't see each other very often and my mum has problems with her own health.

"I gave up work in January because I was on the verge of a breakdown.

''I don't believe in tablets and I haven't seen a doctor," she said.

The mother of-four said of her son: "He says things will change when he starts middle school in September, he promises he will go to school and I'm hoping and praying he does.

"All I can do is take him there. I have to work part time but he understands he has to go to school."