​A MOTHER has been sent to jail for nine months for allowing her two young children to suffer at the hands of a convicted paedophile.

The paedophile was the mother’s babysitter of choice, Swansea Crown Court heard.

This was despite her knowing of his past convictions, and concerns from other family members about his conduct around the children.

Judge Davies QC told the defendant that by babysitting the man had allowed the mother “something she valued highly — personal freedom at the expense of your children”.

He said it was unbelievable she could have been naive to the man’s past due to her dismissive nature towards those who raised concerns over the children’s well-being, and anyone who took an interest.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons but is aged in her 20s and from Ammanford, appeared in the Crown Court for sentencing.

She had changed her pleas to guilty to two counts of child cruelty to a child under the age of 16 at an earlier court hearing.

The children, both under 10 years old, were exposed to the convicted paedophile, who was a friend of their mother, over a two-year period between November 2007 and November 2009.

The man was jailed for the sex attacks indefinitely in March this year. He had committed crimes of an almost identical nature in the past and been to prison for them.

During his summing up to the court, Judge Huw Davies QC said that, despite concerns from other family members about the man’s conduct around the children, the woman had “vouched for his integrity by allowing him easy and unsupervised access”.

“He was the babysitter of choice,” he said.

He said she had made a “catastrophic error” in relying on the man and allowing him to look after the children while she was out of the home.

Among the concerns held by relatives, the court heard, was the way the man had sat and held one of the children at the family home. The judge told the woman: “This is your first offence, and your good character as a mother has been lost.”

She was sentenced to nine months for both counts of child cruelty and ordered to serve each term concurrently.

The children are now being looked after by their fathers.