Boy locked cold and hungry in old coal bunker

A mother and stepfather who forced their 11-year-old son to live in a filthy converted coal bunker are behind bars today.

Bullied and constantly hungry, the traumatised child was made to live and sleep in the room, described as a “cell” by social workers, and reduced to using a potty as he was locked up each night, Preston Crown Court heard.

The room was described as “freezing” with no heating, a bare light bulb, concrete walls and floor. The child was left to sleep on a dirty mattress with just a sleeping bag for a blanket.

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The parents said the boy was put in the room as punishment for raiding the family’s fridge.

The room was a windowless old out-house with an entrance leading to the lounge of the family home in Blackpool, Lancs. The child had lived in it for a year, then aged between 11 and 12.

The parents, both in their 40s, cannot be named for legal reasons. Both have admitted cruelty by wilful neglect between January 2010 and January 2011.

Both were due to be sentenced yesterday but Judge Norman Wright said the case was so “emotionally charged” he adjourned sentencing until next week.

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He rejected pleas from the defendant’s lawyers to spare them jail and remanded the pair into custody until Monday.

Jeremy Grout-Smith, prosecuting, told the court: “It is the prosecution case the boy spent most of his time at home in the cell, because of his behaviour.”

The school reported that the boy always seemed to be hungry, was disruptive and struggled in class.

But when they gave him food he seemed to “calm down” and become more content.

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When the boy was threatened with being sent home for bad behaviour he became “hysterical” and begged: “Don’t send me home, I’m sorry, give me one more chance, I will be good.”

The family was then referred to social services who, along with a police officer and PCSO visited the home in January last year.

They were shown the boy sleeping in the uncarpeted room, 6ft (1.8m) by 4ft (1.2m) on a mattress. There was a bare light bulb and no apparent heating. Officers told the boy to go back to sleep.

A social worker later asked to see the boy’s room after talking to the boy at school.

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“She described it as a cell. The room was just big enough for a single bed with concrete walls and floor and a bare light bulb,” Mr Grout-Smith added.

“Rubbish was on the floor and a potty half-full with urine. The bed had no sheet and there were scratch marks on the wall. There was no heating and the window had been boarded. No natural light or ventilation.

“It was described as ‘freezing’. His homework was under his pillow. There were exposed electrical cables.”

The boy was taken into local authority care. He was underweight and below average height for his age, and suffering from anemia.

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Since being placed with foster parents he had put on weight and his behaviour had improved dramatically.

The mother initially denied neglect but later accepted the boy’s living conditions were inadequate and that he should never have been locked in the room.

Wayne Jackson, defending, said the boy was “undoubtedly” a very difficult child to manage but the mother, who herself had a tough upbringing, admitted she could have done more to get help.

“We were a family in crisis who kept getting the door slammed in our face,” she claimed.

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He added: “Undoubtedly the boy has been traumatised and psychologically affected. No one will be able to quantify the degree of that effect on him until older years to see how he turns out.”

Jacob Dyer, defending the stepfather, who wiped tears from his eyes as he sat in the dock, said the unemployed defendant accepted he was wrong to lock the child in the room. He said: “These were inadequate parents who were unable, because they did not have the skills or abilities, to cope.”

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