A SINGLE mum appeared in court over her problem son not going to school and told magistrates she had tried and failed to get him to attend.
The 45-year-old Spalding mother of four told magistrates: “Basically I have tried everything. He’s 16, he’s 6ft and I have got holes in my doors.”
She said her son has a sleeping problem and a drug problem.
The woman said: “He’s awake all night and sleeps all day.
“He always says ‘sorry’ and he will go the following morning.”
When asked if she wanted to plead guilty or not guilty to being the parent of a child who failed to attend school regularly, the mum replied: “Guilty for him not going, but it is not my choice – I have tried.”
The single mum said she was on anti-depressants and had been seeking counselling through work.
She told the court: “I have got four children and he’s the only one I have had problems with.”
The mum was conditionally discharged for six months and ordered to pay county council prosecution costs of £100.
Anne Wheelan, senior legal officer at the council, told the court the 16-year-old boy initially had an unauthorised absence rate of 75 per cent, but since November he had not attended at all.
The court heard the boy hopes to gain an apprenticeship.
Presiding magistrate Gillian Wild told the mum: “You are on a conditional discharge. Just ask him not to let you down and it will help him with the apprenticeship.
“He does need to address this situation with regard to the drugs. It is not easy for you we know.”
• We have not named the mum so the children concerned are not identified.