Parents of nine-day-old Darcey, who died after ingesting cocaine through breast milk, walk FREE on suspended sentences

From the Newshound archive · first published 2 October 2026 · last updated 3 October 2026.

Rochelle Thomas, 30, and Andrew Maunder, 29, were handed two-and-a-half-year prison sentences suspended for three years at Truro Crown Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to child neglect. Their daughter Darcey died on 11 November 2023 at the Hotel Victoria in Newquay, just nine days after her birth, with cocaine detected in her blood. Judge Simon Carr took an "exceptional view" of the case, stopping short of immediate custody despite toxicology evidence showing Thomas had used cocaine during and throughout her pregnancy.

Darcey's grandmother found the couple screaming in their hotel room with the newborn unconscious and blood on her face.

Cocaine was found on both parents' clothes, fingers and a cup beside the bed, though breastfeeding was judged the most likely route of exposure.

The court heard Maunder regularly took several lines of cocaine in an evening, while Thomas used the drug before, during and after her pregnancy.