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| Riley Pettipierre methadone death: Parents jailed | Riley Pettipierre methadone death: Parents jailed |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The parents of a toddler who died after drinking methadone have been jailed for his manslaughter. | The parents of a toddler who died after drinking methadone have been jailed for his manslaughter. |
| Two-year-old Riley Pettipierre died in March 2012 after drinking his mother's prescription drug, which had been poured into a child's drinking beaker. | Two-year-old Riley Pettipierre died in March 2012 after drinking his mother's prescription drug, which had been poured into a child's drinking beaker. |
| Sally Dent, 33 was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years and Shaun Binfield, 45 received four years. Both are from Belper, Derbyshire. | Sally Dent, 33 was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years and Shaun Binfield, 45 received four years. Both are from Belper, Derbyshire. |
| Dent was also found guilty of one charge of child cruelty. | |
| During the trial in January, a jury was told the cup of methadone was left on some bedroom drawers in "easy reach" of Dent. | |
| The court heard she had a history of drug use going back many years, and was prescribed the drug to try to rid her of the habit. | |
| 'Somewhere safe' | |
| When paramedics arrived at the family home on 13 March, they found Riley lifeless. His heart had stopped beating and his lips were blue, the court heard. | |
| He was taken to hospital but pronounced dead shortly after arriving. | |
| A post-mortem examination showed the toddler had a fatal amount of methadone in his blood, stomach and urine. | |
| He is believed to have consumed between 10 and 20ml of methadone. | |
| A jury at Nottingham Crown Court took just four hours to convict the pair of manslaughter last month following a two-week trial. | |
| During her defence, Dent described how she came to put the methadone in the child's beaker. | |
| She said: "I was just thinking of somewhere safe to put it - because the lid was so tight I knew I wouldn't spill it." |