A mum suffocated her baby after passing out while drunk just two years after her other child died in her bed, a court has heard.
Claire Ross, 39, lost her five-month-old daughter in July 2020 while the first baby died in 2018.
She had passed out drunk in bed with her babies on both occasions, but the cause of death couldn't be determined in the earlier case so criminal charges were dropped.
The reckless mum cried in court as she was tried for negligent homicide in Nyon, Switzerland, this weak after the death in 2020.
Ross moved to the town from Bargate Water, St Helens, and was convicted over a shocking drink-driving case involving another child back in 2017, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Then, Liverpool Magistrates' Court heard she had driven on the M62 motorway with her toddler in the car, while four and half times over the legal limit, when a tyre burst forcing her to stop on the hard-shoulder.
Lynn Clark, prosecuting that case, told the court: "The officers went to speak to the defendant to see if they could offer any assistance.
“They immediately noticed an overwhelming smell of alcohol, and noted her eyes were bloodshot and glazed, and that she was slurring her words. They formed the opinion she was drunk, although she denied she had been drinking."
Ross told the officers that her then three-year-old daughter was in the back seat, although when they checked there was nobody else in the car.
It later emerged her husband, Ian Ross, had already driven to the scene and collected the girl before leaving his wife to wait for the breakdown services.
Claire Ross, who told the officers "I'm not a bad person", was also found to have vomited in a bag which was found in the front of the vehicle. Ross claimed she had still been drunk from the night before when she drank wine with a friend, but the court heard a witness statement from the friend who suggested Ross seemed "fine to drive" when she left.
She also claimed the extremely high reading on the police breath tests was because she had been drinking vodka while waiting for the breakdown services – a claim disputed by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Ross pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol. Neil Davies, defending, said his client was of “exceptional character” and was “devastated” by the incident.
He told the court: “At the time a letter from her GP shows she had received treatment after suffering from depression. I have asked her and she says she sought solace in this case by drinking to excess.
“However we have here a morning after case, this is not a case in which Mrs Ross consumed significant amounts of alcohol at the local pub then got in her car and then drove home."
She was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and referred to the Probation Service for five rehabilitation activity days. The Liverpool Echo approached Ross outside court about her reckless behaviour, but she declined to comment.
After that case the family moved to Prangins near the Swiss town of Nyon, where her husband had secured a job. However, Ross continued to struggle with a crippling alcohol addiction, and in 2018 she awoke after drinking to find her two-month old baby dead in bed with her.
According to Swiss media reports, prosecutors in Switzerland launched an investigation but it was dropped after a clear cause of death could not be determined, leaving open the possibility the baby died of natural causes such as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Ross and her husband welcomed another baby in February 2020, although her drinking was still far from under control.
One morning in July 2020, Ross drank heavily and after putting the TV on for her eldest daughter, then six, she went to bed with her five-month old. According to Swiss prosecutors, she was so drunk she passed out on the bed with her body on top of the baby's.
The eldest girl was alerted by sounds of distress from her baby sister, but could not wake her comatose mum. The girl managed to free her sister and placed her in a pram, before running to get help from a neighbour.
The neighbour, who was still unable to wake Ross from her drunken stupor, called the emergency services and the baby was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead a short time later. Autopsy reports gave the cause of death as suffocation.
This time, prosecutors pursued the case and Ross was charged with negligent homicide at the district court in Nyon.
The court heard even after the death of the second baby, Ross was caught drink driving again in August 2020, while parked outside a consultation she was attending.
During the hearing, prosecutor Jean-Marie Ruede told the court the death of the five-month-old girl was a "a remake in all respects" of the death of the first baby in 2018. He said psychiatric reports showed Ross "drowns her mental ill-being" with heavy drinking.
Her solicitor, Patrick Sutter, argued due to her mental health problems she should not be held criminally responsible for the death of her baby.
The court heard that psychiatrists had found Ross showed signs of borderline personality disorder and had a "toxic relationship" with alcohol. Mr Sutter told the court Ross had been failed by mental health services and he was "convinced" that if a diagnosis had been made in 2018 the tragedy of 2020 could have been avoided.
Mr Reude for the prosecution also criticised the lack of a referral to social services after the death of the first baby.
Ross was asked to address the court, telling the judges: "I understood and accepted that I had no control over alcohol".
Speaking in English, she said she had been sober since October 2020, and that "peace" had returned to her family, even if "the reconstruction phase" was not yet over.
The court heard Ross had since become a mother for a fourth time, although the baby was removed from her care and she currently has supervised visits. The eldest girl has since been returned to the family, although the court was told she is being monitored by a child psychologist and is "doing well".
Judges are set to deliver their verdict and any sentence on Tuesday.
