Parents jailed for neglect of children found in filthy Lancashire house
|
Version 0 of 1. A court has jailed the parents of four children all aged under five found living in “feral and dangerous” conditions in a house where excrement was smeared on the walls. The 23-year-old father of the children and their 29-year-old mother admitted four counts of child neglect when they appeared at Preston crown court on Wednesday. The parents, from Leyland, Lancashire cannot be named to protect the identity of the children, who were described by police as acting like zombies. Officers, who attended the house by chance looking for someone else in relation to an unconnected matter, were left retching by an overpowering stench after being granted permission to enter the property. They found the children – dirty, dishevelled and wearing only nappies or T-shirts – living in the disgusting conditions. A baby in a bouncer was just two feet away from a halogen heater, naked except for a nappy, while a screaming girl was trapped under a bed frame in a room full of faeces and flies, police said. Two toddlers were in a bedroom with faeces smeared on walls, open soiled nappies, dirty bedding and exposed carpet rods. Officers went to buy the children food because there was nothing in the kitchen for them to eat. All four children had temperatures and skin conditions and were taken to hospital by police. The parents were sentenced to 14 months each. Judge Mark Brown, the honorary recorder of Preston, accepted that the woman’s mental condition meant she was unable to cope and suspended her sentence for two years, with a rehabilitation requirement. Brown told the couple it was a “deplorable and appalling state of affairs”. “I’m satisfied that all of this shows you have complete indifference to their welfare,” the Lancashire Post reported the judge saying. However, he questioned Lancashire county council social services’ handling of the case, asking why the children had later been returned to their parents after police found them on 25 October 2015. Amanda Hatton, the council’s director of children’s services, said: “The family were referred to the local authority for the first time when the police initially visited the property. At that point we secured placements for the children outside the family home. “We put this matter before a family court and recommended that the children be looked after away from the family home with extended family as their permanent placement. “However, the family court did not agree with this position and the children were placed back in the care of their parents with the local authority undertaking close monitoring of the case. “We are now working with extended family members to ensure the ongoing safety and wellbeing of the children.” DC Lee Bradshaw-Wood of Lancashire police said the parents “displayed an abject failure to provide basic care for such young, vulnerable children”. “The living accommodation was disgusting and unsafe and the children were dirty and their clothing was inadequate. No child should have to live in those conditions,” he said. Philip Boyd, defending the father, said: “He was a very young man. If he had been more mature and adequate at dealing with difficulties he would have been able to take assistance which was available to him. He tried to sort things out himself but they got worse and worse. This was not somebody who was being deliberately cruel – he was an inadequate young man feeling he could do it all himself.” Mark Stewart, who defended the mother, said she was embarrassed and in a poor position mentally. |