Addicted to fantasy world: Mother obsessed with computer game let her children live in squalor and left dogs to starve to death

Addicted to a fantasy world: Mother obsessed with computer
game let her children live in squalor and left her dogs to starve to death

By Jaya Narain

Last updated at 2:07 PM on 13th September 2010

Judge bans her from using computersChildren 'drink' cold baked beans for dinner

A mother neglected her three children and let her dogs starve to death because she was so obsessed with a computer game.

The 33-year-old woman played the Small World game almost non-stop on the internet for months while her children were reduced to eating cold baked beans straight from the tin with their fingers. Her home became filthy, with rubbish strewn over the floor and the bodies of her two dogs, a German shepherd and a lurcher, left for two months in the dining room it was revealed.

A mother who neglected her three children and let her two dogs starve to death after becoming obsessed with a computer game has been given a suspended jail sentence and banned from using computers

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been given a suspended jail sentence and banned from using the internet by a judge in Kent.

The horror only came to an end when a neighbour peered through the letterbox and alerted the authorities, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The woman's children, aged nine, ten and 13, were badly neglected for six months, said Deepak Kapur, prosecuting. When officers arrived at the house in Swanley, Kent, in February the woman told them it was 'in a bit of a mess' They then saw rubbish all over the floors in all of the rooms.

The woman tried to block officers from entering the dining room and when asked why she replied: 'All right, my dogs are in there. They are dead. I killed them. 'I probably starved them, probably because I have been playing the computer game all the time.'

Her lawyer said: 'She retreated into a completely different environment. She obviously became addicted to Small World'

She received an invitation from a friend on Facebook to play Small World and had very quickly become hooked.

The game featuring characters such a wizards, dwarves, orcs and giants is played like a traditional board game but online. Small World is an online board game featuring characters such as wizards, dwarves, orcs and giants. It can be played independently or through the social networking site Facebook and has a legion of fans who compare it to the popular Dungeons and Dragons board game.

According to the makers, Days of Wonder, players aEU~vie for conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them allaEU(tm). Players must use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.

Unlike virtual worlds aEU" where players assume an avatar and interact directly with each other aEU" Small World is played like a traditional board game where you spread out your aEU~armyaEU(tm) to take over nearby territories with the aim of taking over the whole board. It can be played with friends online, or alone.

'She started playing initially for an hour aday in late 2009 but since August of that year it had become an obsession to the point where she was only getting two hours' sleep a night,' said the prosecutor. 'She still managed to feed the children and get them to school but accepted she let everything else go. Afterwards, it became so overwhelming she didn't know where to start. It got to the stage where she only bought food that didn't need cooking.

Allan Compton, defending, said the woman had been a devoted and competent mother until tragedy struck some years ago with the death of her husband from a heart attack.

She retreated into this virtual world provided by her laptop computer,' he said.

She shut herself off from the outside world.' Mr Compton said the house was now habitable.

The children had been taken into care, but she hoped to be reunited with them in the future, he said.

The mother was sentenced to six months' imprisonment suspended for two years, and ordered to do 75 hours' unpaid work.

She was banned from keeping animals. She had admitted three charges of child cruelty and two of animal neglect. Judge Jeremy Carey told her: 'Your life went very badly wrong. Your children were badly neglected indeed. There was decay and filth all around.' Judge Carey banned the woman from access to the internet 'to assist you to resist the temptation to return to this virtual world'.

Comments (243)
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Do not stick up for this woman - she has let her children down. We all have to deal with loss and death etc and to be honest I think WAY too many people feel a bit low sometimes and then all of a sudden its full blown depression. Its an excuse. You pick yourself up and you carry on, if not for yourself then for your children. Yes the dogs were a shame but she could have mentally scarred those kids for life. Prison would have been far better for her, she may have realised how good her life really was. Again, I think way too many people use depression as an excuse for all sorts of bad behaviour. Its OK to feel a bit down sometimes, especially after a death, but you have to get over it as there is no other choice. Think positive and eventually you will have a positive outlook and attitude, but yes it takes work, which people are loathe to do these days. A lot of people nowadays think the world owes them a living.

- Gorgeous Brunette, Callington, Cornwall, 13/9/2010 14:21

Rating 75

I love the way the daily mail sets people up everyday for you lot to knock them down. The lot of you are laying into this woman are dispicable. She obviously has mental problems and needs help. Luckily not everyone is like you lot and she may get it instead of being kicked from pillar to post.

- Nick, London, 13/9/2010 14:17

Rating 29

So they all sat on their backsides and watched as those dogs slowly, painfully, starved to death. A thirteen year old couldn't open a tin of dog food or put some dried dog food down. The mother couldn't take a few minutes to feed the dogs or to even order a take away for the kids. Sorry I have been bereaved and it has never made me stop feeding the dog or my children. I may have not been good company and have lost my appetite myself but it has never turned me into a zombie. So no excuses as far as I am concerned.

- Marie., Lancs, 13/9/2010 14:09

Rating 170

And the same time Lincolnshire Council threaten to prosecute a man for letting his daughter walk to the end of the road.

This is why the country is exasperated with Social Services. Here are three kids neglected, still going to school for all to see and no one to do anything about, and the woman gets away with a light slap on the writst. I'm sorry for her personal circumstances, and perhaps the sentence was enough, but it should never have come to this. Social Services should have taken action 12 months ago when it started becoming clear she was neglecting her kids.

- Chris Carr, Southampton, 13/9/2010 14:03

Rating 81

I can understand how this happens. whilst not addicted as this lady clearly is l once brought a similar role playing game and loaded it into my computer and started playing. I got a call from down stairs for tea which l thought was odd but then realised l had been playing this game for over 4 hours. In another case we had to take the computer out of my friends sons bedroom to stop him from playing an online role playing game, he was totally besotted with the game which affected his school work and his mates got very worried about the amount of time he spent online and that it was all he ever talked about. Its the nature of these games to get involved but its knowing when to stop and wanting to stop that is the problem for some people who don't know how to stop. Sadly thats the nature of all addictions and this one whilst newer is no different in its nature. I hope this lady gets all the help she needs and no more online games for her.

- colin Skilton, redhill Surrey, 13/9/2010 13:50

Rating 27

The problem here is that a woman was driven to hide from life by a personal tragedy. In this case she retreated into a game but it could just have easily (and I suspect more often is) a retreat into drink. The really tragedy is that this woman apparently had no friends or family who cared enough about her to see that she was in desparate need of some kind of help, and because of that not only did she retreat from reality, but her children suffered as well.

- Andrew Wimble, Brighton, England, 13/9/2010 13:44

Rating 38

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