A woman who abducted a child from a primary school in Cathays, Cardiff, by posing as their mother has been sentenced to 16 months in a Young Offenders Institution.
Molly Patterson, 19, turned up at the school and told staff on duty that she was his mother. Staff allowed the child to be taken and the alarm was only raised when the boy’s real mum turned up at the school gates.
Patterson was known to the boy’s parents and prior to the abduction, she had sent them abusive messages and had threatened to take the young boy.
The court heard how Patterson took the boy to a pub and a park before she cracked and told a friend what she had done. The friend asked to meet and called the police who then arrested her. The young boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was then returned home.
Patterson admitted child abduction. Alongside her sentence was handed a restraining order to stop her contacting the child, or the family, again.
Following the case, a spokesperson for the primary school tried to reassure parents.
They said: “We took steps to strengthen the safeguarding of our children being collected from the school.
“Making sure that our children are taught in a secure environment is a priority for the school. We will continue to monitor our procedures to make sure the children are as safe as possible.”