Mother who killed is freed

A deaf and dumb woman who admitted killing her five-year-old daughter in a fire in which she also hoped to die, was given three years' probation for manslaughter at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

The court was told that sending Lesley Hutchinson, 28, - who was suffering from depression at the time of the killing - to jail would have placed her in total isolation because of her handicaps. She was ordered to stay at a special hospital before moving to a hostel.