Toddler left wandering the streets while couple went on drunken spree

Glenn Ellidge, 38, and Lisa Zykowski, 29, were so drunk they allowed the little girl to fend for herself and left her with a drunken stranger.

Police were called in after members of the public found the child 'cold and wet' and walking around the streets of Manchester.

She was taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary but was found not to be physically harmed.

Glen Ellidge and Lisa Zykowski were charged with child cruelty after the girl was left to wander the streets

At Manchester Crown Court, Zykowski who is seven months pregnant and Ellidge, both of Westcott Avenue, Withington pleaded guilty to child cruelty.

They were both given an 18-month community rehabilitation order and made subject to a 12-month drug rehabilitation order.   

Sentencing, Judge David Hernandez said: 'This is a very disturbing episode. The backdrop to this is that whilst in your respective care, you were neither in a condition to look after the child.

'Fortunately she did not come to any physical harm but it could have been more serious. Your lives remain in a totally chaotic state.'

Earlier prosecuting Mr Ian Lee said on one occasion the child was left by Zykowski with a stranger. The tot was found in a pram next to a man asleep on a bench with beer cans around him.

In a later incident, the child was spotted falling head first from a pushchair after being pushed into the kerb by a drunken Ellidge.

Within hours, members of the public found the girl wandering the street with Ellidge nowhere to be seen.

When police caught up with him, he said he had no recollection of the events due to the concoction of drink and drugs he had taken.

Zykowski accepted that it wasn't appropriate to leave the child with the man in the train station because he was intoxicated. She accepted that she had been drinking alcohol herself.

The court heard that Ellidge had 129 offences against him - 88 for theft, while Zykowski has been convicted of 26 offences - 11 for theft-related offences.

Defending Ellidge, Mr David Abbott said: 'The defendants are living together although they are currently temporarily homeless and they slept on the street last night.

'They are hoping to find accommodation imminently.'

Defending Zykowski, Miss Louise Smith said: 'The defendant is pregnant and the baby is due in just under two months, although she believes she will go into labour in the next week or so - due to the signs.

'She is under the care of a doctor. They are hoping to put a deposit down on a flat in Salford today - but they have been sleeping on the streets for the past seven days.'

Outside court, Detective Constable Jackie Kerr from the Public Protection Unit said: 'Both Ellidge and Zykowski have proved themselves unfit to look after children.

'The levels of neglect shown by the pair are alarming and I am pleased they have been held accountable for their actions and have accepted they are responsible.'