Baby dies after stressed mum forgets and leaves him in car for eight hours

Cathy Ranson (31) parked as usual at 8am outside the laundry where she works in Halle, Belgium and when she returned eight hours later her son, Guy, was still in his seat - dead from dehydration.

Mrs Ranson, who was said to be stressed from coping with a job and a family, took her three children in the family's saloon car when she set off for work on the day of the tragedy.

First she stopped to drop off the two elder children, aged five and seven, at their school in Halle, Belgium. But she forgot to stop again two miles further on to deposit Guy at his nursery.

She did not realise the mistake immediately after work and drove to the nursery with Guy dead in his seat, fixed facing backwards.

The horrible truth finally dawned on her at the nursery. "Guy is dead. Guy is dead," she screamed as she frantically rang the bell on the door.

A police spokesman said: "There are no suspicious circumstances. This was a tragic accident."

Mrs Ranson could face a criminal charge of causing her baby's death by negligence.

But Belgian child care experts and counsellors are rallying to her defence.

Stress specialist Theo Compernolle said: "It is not unusual for people facing the daily pressure of work and children to do the most unusual, silly things in a moment of forgetfulness.

"Cathy was clearly a working mother under stress on that day. I've known women like her who leave their baby in a pram outside a clothes' shop and then wander away down the street window shopping.

"Forgetfulness has nothing to do with whether a mother loves her child. It's just that other worries can take over and they forget the most elementary things.

"Nobody should point an accusing finger at this young mother."

Cathy was being comforted by her husband and relatives at her flat in Halle yesterday.

"She's feels absolutely wretched. She's too upset to say anything," said a friend.