Telford couple's children moved from ‘squalor’ into care, court told

Social workers alerted police to the neglect being suffered by the children, who were all removed from the “filthy” property in Sutton Hill and taken into care on July 22 last year.

The mother was said to have become pregnant with a fourth child as police were investigating the child cruelty allegations.

At the time of the defendants’ arrest on July 22 last year the couple had three young children. Social services removed the fourth child, who is now three months old, from the parents immediately after birth. At Shrewsbury Crown Court, the woman and her partner were both made subject to two-year community orders.

Both defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had admitted three charges of cruelty to a child, relating to each of the three children, between November 2014 and July last year.

The woman was also ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and attend thinking and behaviour skills programmes.

The man, said to have a serious eye condition, was not suitable for unpaid work but will be under supervision and subject to a monitored curfew for the next three months.

Passing sentence, Recorder Peter Rouch QC said that adults had a choice of how they lived but children do not and the victims in the case were forced to live in “filthy and terrible” conditions.

He said it was clear the defendants were both “inadequate” parents and were living in squalor and were incapable of looking after such young children.

“When interviewed you failed to appreciate the extent of the neglect involved in this case," he said.

“While not a malicious act of child neglect, you did not appreciate that you were living in squalid conditions and could not see anything wrong with the way you were living.”

Mr Scott Coughtrie, prosecuting, said health visitors had been to the defendants’ privately rented home on several occasions earlier last year and found the children in bare feet and wearing only nappies that had needed changing.

Appointments were made at a health clinic, but the mother did not attend and there was a visit to the house in early July last year.

He said the defendants were asleep but did answer the door and the filthy state of the premises emerged. There was a smell of cannabis and the garden was overgrown and full of rubbish.

“An unannounced visit was then made on July 22 when it was found there was little natural light in the house, no bedding on the beds and the mattresses were dirty,” said Mr Coughtrie.

“There were soiled nappies in a bag. The carpets were stained and there were bare boards in the bathroom and curtains were nailed to the windows.

“There was little food in the house and excrement was smeared on the walls and there was no interaction between the parents and the oldest child, “ he added.

Mr Coughtrie said the baby had an infection under its arms and that they had been surviving on ‘junk food’.

He said it was clear the defendants had a lack of insight into being parents and indicated they expected social services to be involved with them for the next 10 to 15 years.

Mrs Debra White, for both defendants, said her clients had been involved in ‘totally inadequate parenting’ and it was a ‘very sad case’.

She said the woman had become pregnant at 15 and after the first child was born soon became pregnant again.

Mrs White said the woman was pregnant with the third child during the period of the offences and there had subsequently been a fourth child.

“She was very young and was struggling to cope with the situation and now faced the loss of her children,” she said.

Mrs White said the man had a condition which would lead to him losing his sight within the next few years and the woman was his registered carer.