Kerry Capper, 25, never thought that allowing her daughter to have a couple of days off school when she was feeling ill could result in the possibility of her going to jail.
Her daughter, Libby, had been diagnosed with a tumour in one of her kidneys back in 2010, but thankfully recovered. However, Kerry obviously still worries about the return of the disease, and allowed her daughter the odd day off when she was feeling ill “to keep an eye on her”.
Last year, Libby had seven days off school for this reason, and Kerry had to appear before magistrates because she didn’t pay the £60 fine for her child’s ‘unauthorised absense’ from school. If she doesn’t pay it, she could face up to three months in jail.
The unemployed mum says that she didn’t have enough credit on her phone to inform the school that Libby wouldn’t be in, and when she got the date wrong and missed a meeting with the school to explain what had happened, she was told by a teacher: “I’m sorry, Mum, it’s getting sent to court now”.
Kerry explains: “Then I got a penalty notice of £60. But I couldn’t afford to pay that at that time.
“They should give consideration of what I went through as a mother and when she does say she’s ill I get really scared because we did nearly lose her.”
Her solicitor has stated: “We feel strongly that the council should not have brought this case against Kerry. Every time Libby would feel unwell her symptoms were like the time she was diagnosed with cancer and Kerry wanted to keep an eye on her in case the cancer had returned.”
