The couple in their 40s, who cannot be named for legal reasons, both admitted cruelty by wilful neglect between January 2010 and January 2011 at an earlier hearing at Preston Crown Court.
Judge Norman Wright told the pair: “This was a flagrant abuse of power and a gross breach of trust.”
He added: “The room has been described as a cell but it seems to me it was akin to a prison cell from a third world country, not the home of an 11 or 12-year-old living in this century in this country.”
The boy was put in the room as punishment for raiding the family’s fridge, the couple told police after their arrest.
The room was a windowless old outhouse with one exit bricked up and a new one added leading to the lounge of the family home in Blackpool, Lancs.
The youngster lived there before his school became concerned why he was always hungry in class.
Police and social workers visited the house and he was placed in foster care.
Doctors who examined the boy said he was underweight and below average height for his age, and treated him for anaemia.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice the parallels between this horribly real story and the way that a certain fictional wizard was treated by his revolting but equally fictional relatives. You don't tend to think of the character as an abused child, nor do you give much attention that aspect of the story, not when there's a far more pressing villain on the prowl.
ReplyDeleteBut this is all fiction. The truly awful thing is that there are real children who are forced to live in the proverbial cupboard under the stairs, in conditions unfit for an animal. There are children who are only given the bare minimum they need to survive and sometimes even that is withheld as a punishment. These things really do happen. Just ask any children’s charity.
And the thing I find most chilling is that we only hear about them when they hit the headlines. There must be any number of children that nobody knows about. I am so glad that this little boy was found and I hope that he recovers. But I can't help but think of the children that haven't been found yet or who might not be found.