A woman who tried to kill herself and her young son has been sentenced to serve seven years in jail by a judge at Pontevedra court.

The incident came to light on March 22nd this year after the woman failed to return her son to the child welfare centre where he was being cared for.

There was no reply when officers visited the woman's home, but were told by her husband that he had received several calls from her during the afternoon threatening to end her life.

After breaking down the front door, which had been blocked with a sofa, police found the woman curled up in bed with her son - all the windows were closed and there was an open butane gas bottle in the room.

It later emerged that the boy, who was found unconscious bleeding from the nose, had been given a large quantity of sleeping tablets dissolved in a milky chocolate drink.

However, he survived as the butane cannister his mother had used, did not contain enough gas to kill either of them.

The woman was also fined €3,000 euros and has been banned from contacting her son during her jail term, and will have to keep her distance for a further 17 years following her release.