A DRUG addict mum who let her toddler live in abject squalor when they visited the child's dad has been spared a jail term.

Leanne Hurd, 24, who is almost six months pregnant, allowed her little girl to stay in the house which was so disgusting police felt physically sick when they visited.

Now, after hearing that Hurd is trying to sort her life out after spending time in jail for other matters, a judge imposed a suspended sentence.

But the child's dad, 30-year-old Christopher Page, was jailed for eight months after the court heard he had repeatedly failed to see probation for a pre-sentence report.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the couple had been cautioned by police for child neglect in 2012.

She said in late 2013 into 2014 social services were trying to contact them to check up on the youngster, now aged three, but they repeatedly missed appointments.

In August last year police went with social workers to force entry to their home so they could see the child.

Inside there was no fresh food or milk and when the fridge was opened Sgt Alex Spargo said she was 'forced to recoil from the fouls smell coming from within'.

"There was not fruit of veg or milk suitable for a young child," Miss Squire said.

"What is particularly revolting is the state of the bathroom. The lavatory bowl was full to the brim with old, stale faeces.

"Clothes being washed were next to a toilet entirely full to the top with faeces.

"A storage container, as well, in one of the upstairs rooms with a take away box with an old piece of faeces in it."

In one of the bedrooms the carpet was littered with cigarette butts and items including the cut off bottoms of drink cans, which had been used for drug taking.

Outside, the garden was completely uncared for with a broken mirror and toys in the long grass and 24 black bin bags with infestations of flies and maggots.

Despite the property being 'extremely dangerous and unpleasant,' she said there were pictures of the child and signs saying 'family' showing she was clearly loved.

The child was examined and, though she was dirty and in a soiled nappy, she was found to be healthy and happy and not needing any medical treatment.

When she was questioned Hurd said that although the council tenancy was in her name Page lived full time at the property with her often at her mum's.

When she did visit she said she stayed in the living room with the child, which was the most habitable part of the house.

Hurd, of Queens Drive, and Page, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to child neglect.

Rob Ross, for Hurd, said she had been a drug addict at the time but was now on methadone after spending a short period behind bars for other matters.

He said the child, who had not suffered any physical harm, had been taken from her and was now being looked after by a member of the family.

"We have people who are, or certainly were at the time, inadequate brought on by an addiction to drugs," he said.

Tony Bignall, for Page, said his client suffered agoraphobia and other mental health problems as well drug addiction and is now homeless.

"This is a man who loves his daughter and misguidedly let her in to his house when he should not have done," he said.

Judge Peter Blair QC said: "You both fell woefully to provide the basic requirement of safety for your toddler when permitting her to be in this appalling state of condition that the house was in when the police came round, after there had been a lack of contact with social services, to find the pit that you were occupying and to find the girl, your daughter, within.

"This was not withstanding the fact that you had been cautioned in 2012 for the same thing, and not withstanding the shot across your bows that that should have provided you continued not to provide properly for this young girl.

"Obviously this was mainly contributed to by your drug addictions and in Mr Page's case some mental problems and agoraphobia.

"That doesn't removed from you the legal requirement and the moral requirement, which I can't fail to conclude that you were aware of, that the environment that your daughter was occupying was a safe one for her development.

"Notwithstanding that she was physically well and one can't help but think she knew very little else in your company and didn't have a lot else to compare it with."

He imposed eight-month jail terms but suspended Hurd's for 18 months with a drug rehabilitation requirement.