UK mum faces jail after taking 9-year-old daughter on holiday during school term time

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Jackie Turner explained that she took 9-year-old Hazel for a trip across Europe last November when she should have been attending lessons.

The mother had emailed the headteacher at Ledbury Primary School to inform her of the plans, but at too short notice to gain the necessary permission.

She assumed that she would be charged the usual £60 fine - a price which she said she was all too willing to pay for her child to take “the trip of a lifetime”.

However she now faces fines of £2,500 and a three-month jail sentence if convicted.

Jackie said: "Herefordshire council proceeded straight to a PACE interview and, five months later, prosecution through the courts, without us as parents ever being given the opportunity to pay a penalty fine."

When asked by Amanda Holden if she had considered going on holiday for a shorter amount of time, the mother said: "I had accrued annual leave, and I realised I could spend three weeks taking Hazel on a bit more of a trip, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, rather than just a week spent going on a holiday and coming back again.”

Jackie went on to detail the numerous museums and historical sites that she and her daughter visited, including the place where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.

She insisted: “She got a great education while we were away, we saw things she would never see in a month of Sundays at school.

“She probably got more educational benefit in those three weeks than she would have done in the rest of the year at school.”

Jackie, who is due to attend court in November, added: "It's not in the public interest to be prosecuting parents when the parents have their children's interest as the main priority."

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