A woman who poured boiling water over her two-year-old daughter was not considered to be a risk, social services have revealed.

The woman, who cannot be named, was jailed for life on Friday at Lewes Crown Court for grievous bodily harm with intent, after scalding the chest and thighs of her two-year-old child.

She had previously been jailed for injuring her son with an iron, the court heard, but her children had not been on the at-risk register held by East Sussex County Council.

A statement from the council said the woman, from St Leonards, had provided good care for her older children who are being looked after through social services.

It confirmed she had served a prison sentence in 1990 for injuring one of her sons.

A spokesman said: "She had provided good care for her older children in the years since her release from prison, and with this evidence of satisfactory parenting, it was judged she could provide safe parenting for her son, born in 1998, and subsequently for her daughter, the subject of this court case.

"As with other parents, practical support was available to her from health and social services and she took advantage of that support.

"This is obviously a very sad case, but ultimately responsibility must lie with the perpetrator of these injuries who has been sentenced for grievous bodily harm against her young daughter."