THE mother of a baby boy whose father is accused of his murder said they never left their child alone or without food.

Georgia Wright, 23, who denies “causing or allowing” the death of her four-month-old son Dallas, made the comment during her police interview after the baby died from a “traumatic head injury” on October 19, 2021.

Dallas’s father Reece Martin Kelly, 31, admits the child’s manslaughter but denies murder. Both he and Wright deny child cruelty.

At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Tim Evans took the jury through Wright’s police interview, when detectives quizzed her about her and Kelly’s use of prescription-only drugs which they had not been prescribed.

Those drugs were identified as tramadol and pregabalin. She accepted sometimes feeling cravings if unable to get the pills.

Describing tramadol as a pain killer, she told the officer that the drug did not “hinder her capabilities”.

Pregabalin also helped her with anxiety, she said.

The pills could leave her feeling “sweaty and horrible”, she said, telling the officer: “I don’t take them to get a buzz. I take them to manage pain and to kill my anxiety.”

She said she took tramadol "all the time," and this had increased in the previous two months. Asked why, she said: “Because my pain is getting extremely bad.”

The officer asked: “Did you tell your doctor about your use of pregabalin and tramadol?”

She answered: “No.”

The detective then asked Wright about how often Reece Kelly used the prescription drugs and she said: “He takes them when he's in pain.

"He's suffered chronic pain throughout his life. He's crippled with pain. Sometimes they just help to relax his stomach."

But the pills did not "hinder his capabilities,” she insisted. She and Kelly suffered from bad anxiety when unable to get the pills. The officer asked how she felt when unable to get the pain killer tablets. “Anxious, sweaty,” said Wright.

The officer quizzed her about the term “rattling”, a word mentioned by Kelly in text messages he had sent to her. Wright replied: “If you take too many you suffer withdrawal from the tablets. Sweaty, horrible.”

She again said her use of the pills did not hinder her ability to care for her child, dressing and feeding him. During part of the interview, the officer asked Wright whether she and Kelly had ever “run out of money” because of buying drugs.

Wright answered: “We have run out of money for buying drugs but we’ve managed to cope.” She said they borrowed money if necessary.

The prosecution says that Kelly, formerly of Hunday Court, Workington, shook his son violently four days before he died, causing his traumatic head injury. He admits shaking his son “gently”, saying did not intend harming him.

Both parents are accused of failing to take Dallas to medical appointments and to have exposed him to drugs in the home.

The trial continues.