A MOTHER was warned to expect a "significant" prison sentence on Monday after she pleaded guilty to killing her 19-month-old son.

Kelly Tugwell was due to stand trial at Maidstone Crown Court on charges of manslaughter and child cruelty.

But she admitted manslaughter and the child cruelty charge was left on the court file.

The 25-year-old drug addict, of Gorse Avenue, Weedswood, Chatham, was responsible for the death of her son, Robert Williams, on August 1, 2004.

Alan Kent, prosecuting, said Tugwell had been addicted to hard drugs for many years and had been given considerable support from drug workers and social services staff.

Howard Godfrey, QC, defending, asked that the probation officer who prepared a pre-sentence report be made fully aware of Tugwell’s drug history.

Judge Warwick McKinnon told Mr Godfrey: "Let her be under no illusion as to what the likely sentence is to be. I have got to have in the forefront of my mind an immediate custodial sentence of some significant length."

The judge will sentence Tugwell at Croydon Crown Court, where he has been appointed senior judge, on July 13. Her bail was continued.

She was originally due to stand trial in November last year, but it was postponed because she was due to have a baby three months later.

A doctor warned that it was "a high risk pregnancy" because of the mother’s opiate addiction.