A couple who abandoned their five young children at their 'filthy and squalid' home to go to the pub today walked free from court.Angela Freer, 31, and Christopher Steele, 55, left the dock in tears as they were spared an immediate custodial sentence for committing 'serious neglect'.
Neighbours alerted police when they witnessed the youngsters - aged between three and seven - swinging on net curtains in the front window of their home in Blackpool, Lancashire, for up to 40 minutes.
One of the four boys in the house was also seen pouring what appeared to be a can of lager in a glass and then drinking from it.
When officers arrived they discovered the partially-clothed children alone with clothing, debris, dirt, food and lager cans strewn across the property, Preston Crown Court was told.
There were no bed sheets in the children's rooms, no clean clothing for them and the house smelled of faeces and urine.
One boy was sleeping on the sofa and could not be awoken, with evidence he may have drunk alcohol.
Freer, who was pregnant at the time, turned up drunk at the house when she was tracked down.
She blamed her partner for abandoning the children for several hours on the afternoon of September 15 2009, after she had earlier left for the pub herself.
No comments:
Post a Comment