South Yorkshire Times September 24, 1955

Hit Son Five, with Shovel
Conisbrough Mother on Probation

When a five-year-old boy pushed a tub of coal over, his mother hit him with an iron copper shovel, it was alleged by inspector F Brown at Doncaster West Riding Magistrate Court on Saturday when Patricia Cocking (31), admitted assaulting her son, Peter, in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering. She was placed on probation for two years.

She was told by the chairman (Mr C.E.Right): “I am surprised that you, as a mother, should attack your son in a manner like this. It is not a mother’s job to punish a child like that.”

Inspector Brown said that PC duty and other officers answered a 999 call to Cocking’s house. They found the boy in bed with the lower part of his back and buttocks severely bruised. Bruises were also found on the child’s neck and right thigh.

The mother at first said she had hit the child with a handbrush, but later she admitted it was with the shovel.

Cocking told the magistrates that she realises action was very serious. It was the first time she had hit the child.