TWO "terrified" brothers were found wandering in the street at midnight after their mum left them home alone to go out drinking.
The siblings, aged four and six, were forced to "fend for themselves" before climbing out of a window and knocking on a neighbour's door in "distress".
Single mother Demi Heffernan, 25, had been drinking when she disappeared from their house in Bridlington, East Yorks, leaving her children locked inside for two hours.
While she was out, the youngsters propped a chair against a wall and clambered out of a window and into the street.
At 12.15am they knocked on a neighbour's door, who immediately alerted police.
Heffernan was arrested and later admitted child cruelty on April 1 last year.
She was yesterday handed a 10-month suspended prison sentence and 200 hours of unpaid work, HullLive reports.
Hull Crown Court heard heard Heffernan's careless actions could have seen her boys abducted or a blaze could have broken out in the house.
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Richard Thompson, prosecuting, said she had been drinking at a friend's home nearby before leaving to put her kids to bed at 10.30pm.
She allegedly intended to return, but by 11.30pm there was still no sign of her.
Forty five minutes later, Herrnan's six-year-old son knocked on the neighbour's door while his younger brother wandered further down the street.
Police were called at 12.30am but Heffernan did not return home until around 1.15am.
Mr Thompson said: "The children were tired and distressed. They were taken to be cared for by their grandparents.
"They were on their own for about two hours, maybe a little bit longer."
'EXTREMELY FRIGHTENING'
Heffernan denied she had been drinking heavily and neglected her kids and accused her neighbour of "trying to set her up".
Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, mitigating, said Heffernan was "remorseful" and the incident is "the biggest regret of her life".
Judge John Thackray QC told her: "You made the decision at 10.30pm to leave two young children fending for themselves at home, aged four and six.
"It must have been extremely frightening for them. They were described by police when they attended the scene at about 1am as distressed.
"They were seen in the street. That's the actual harm you caused.
"What would have happened if there had been a fire?
"What would have happened if a stranger had taken one of your children?"
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