A POOLE couple slept off their drugs while their half-dressed infants wandered alone in busy Herbert Avenue.

The shoeless four year-old girl told an anxious passer-by: "We're off to the park."

The only thing the two-year-old boy had on was a nappy.

Police were called to the parents' home and had to shout to wake the couple up.

The mother began searching hysterically for her children, while the dad became angry and had to be arrested, the court heard.

Both were sweating profusely and were confused, with dilated pupils.

The parents pleaded guilty to two counts of child neglect and were dealt with at Southampton Crown Court yesterday.

They cannot be named to protect their children. The mother admitted to police she had been smoking crack cocaine, and also spent £20 a day on a hit of heroin before the children woke up, and another after they went to sleep.

The father said he took three tablets of diazepam instead of one because he had sleep problems.

Recorder Stuart Jones QC said: "He was a wreck that day. He could have done nothing whatsoever for the children.

"He kicked up a rumpus and was in no fit state to be interviewed until the next day.

"Her reaction appeared to be positive and responsible."

The man has four previous convictions for domestic violence.

The mother had kicked her short- lived heroin habit since the incident on June 4 last year, and they had impressed a family court enough since their "wake-up call" to win back custody of their children.

The couple were both given three year community sentences with three year supervision orders.

The father has also been ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid community work.

A charge of possessing heroin against both was left to lie on the file, and there was no separate penalty for a charge of possessing cannabis.