Couple arrested for leaving child locked in flat

A WOMAN, 41, and her boyfriend, 19, were arrested in Palma for leaving her son, 10, locked in an apartment alone for several hours.

Neighbours alerted the emergency services that the child was alone. When National Police arrived he spoke to them through the closed door, claiming that he was locked in the apartment alone every afternoon.

The police called firemen who entered the apartment via the balcony using their ladder. Once they had checked he was ok, they contacted his mother, who said she would be there in a few minutes. However, a friend of hers arrived and wanted to take the boy, but the police refused.

Three hours later the mother, who has a criminal record, arrived and explained that she works in the afternoons and that her boyfriend was supposed to be looking after her son.

When the 19-year-old arrived, he admitted he had locked the boy in, but claimed it had been less than an hour which the police knew to be a lie.

The couple was arrested for abandoning a minor and taken to the police station to give a statement and released with charges. The child was left with the teenager’s mother.