A mother who left her baby's body in his cot for two weeks after her boyfriend beat him to death was jailed for three-and-a-half years today.

Emma Back, 22, of Park Road, Bexhill, was convicted at Lewes Crown Court of cruelty and conspiring to prevent the burial of her son, Sam, who was killed days before his second birthday by her boyfriend, Aaron Goodman.

Mrs Justice Anne Rafferty told Back that although she was not responsible for Sam's death, she had made her "own grim contribution to his misery".

The judge went on: "He was not a toy you were entitled to pick up and put down on a whim. He was low on your list of selfish and callous priorities.

"A jury found you guilty on compelling evidence of the neglect of your infant son.

"They were entitled to conclude that you failed to secure for him appropriate medical care, assaulted him yourself, or stood by while Goodman assaulted him and you allowed near him the smoking of crack-cocaine.

"By your co-defendant Goodman you have given birth to another child. Were the decision mine, you and your child would have no contact.

"For 18 days you connived to the leaving of his body in his blood-stained cot, rotting, while you lied and deceived your way to people who would have helped him."

Back was jailed for three years for neglect and for six months for conspiring to prevent her son's burial.

Outside the court, Back's mother, Brenda Kingshott, 50, from Newhaven, said she was disappointed her daughter was not jailed for longer.

She said: "She should have got at least ten years for what she has done. She took away our grandson, deprived us of him. It's just a slap on the wrist."

Earlier, Aaron Goodman, 27, formerly of Church Road, St Leonards, was jailed for life after being convicted of murdering Sam at the couple's flat between December 8 and December 14, 2000.

Goodman, who is not the child's father, had admitted conspiring to prevent the child's lawful burial.

The jury in the trial was told that Back and Goodman sought to escape from Sam's death by taking crack cocaine.

His body was left in his cot for more than two weeks while the pair pretended he had been a cot death victim, the court heard.

The body was only found when Sam's grandparents became suspicious.

A post-mortem revealed evidence of a violent, possibly fatal blow to Sam's stomach, a bite mark on his leg, and traces of cocaine in his blood.

The jury also heard that social workers closed the baby's case when attempts to contact his mother failed.

East Sussex social services said in a statement after the verdict: "This is a very sad and tragic case. This young toddler's death was sudden and unpredictable."