A drunken mum left her young sons home alone to go clubbing.
A concerned neighbour called police after finding Kylie Taylor's two-year-old son asleep on the living room sofa dressed only in a nappy in the early hours of the morning.
His four-year-old brother was found asleep in a bedroom with no sheet or duvet cover.
The pillow and duvet were unclean and dirty nappies littered the floor of the Bolton home, with broken objects on the floor, no food in the kitchen and an overflowing toilet.
Prosecutor Neil Fryman told Bolton Crown Court how Taylor, 31, had banged on a neighbour's door in a distressed state at just after 3am on May 8, 2017, and asked them to call a taxi.
Concerned that the children were home alone, the neighbour called the police.
The court heard how officers tracked down Taylor to a nightclub in Bradshawgate just before 4am.
Mr Fryman said she was described as "intoxicated and somewhat unhelpful".
Taylor claimed the children were with her partner or at his mother’s home in Farnworth, but checks revealed they were not.
Officers went to Cheriton Drive, where the door was unlocked, and found the children asleep.
Five minutes later Taylor’s partner, Dylan Fahy, arrived at the property and said he had left Taylor looking after the children.
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Both were arrested but charges against Fahy were not proceeded with.
Taylor pleaded guilty to child neglect.
Virginia Hayton, defending, told the court that the children no longer live with Taylor, saying that criminal proceedings had been "a real wake up call" for Taylor.
Judge Graeme Smith sentenced Taylor to a community order for 12 months with conditions that she undertakes 60 hours of unpaid work and participates in 15 days of rehabilitation activities.
He said: “Being a parent is an enormous responsibility. Very small areas of neglect can lead to devastating consequences.
“Having failed to carry out the responsibility of being a parent, you have lost that privilege.”
He added that although it was a “reckless and foolish action” to go out without checking on the welfare of the children, they had not been physically harmed.
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