Three children had to be rescued after their parents turned the family home into a squalid ?hell hole?, a court heard yesterday.
The youngsters, aged one, three and four, were kept inside day and night by their cruel parents and forced to play among the filth and rubbish piled high in every room.
Yesterday the 26-year-old man and 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were jailed for three years at York Crown Court after admitting cruelty to their children.
Rubbish piled in kitchen of 'hell hole' home
Judge Stephen Ashurst told them: ?The three very young children were not so much living as surviving in that dark, insanitary and squalid house. They were prisoners in their own home.?
Detective Constable Debbie Outwin, of the Protecting Vulnerable Persons Unit in York, said: ?The only words to describe the house were ?hell hole?.?
The stench was unbearable and the house was littered with rotting food and human excrement, the court heard.
Banned from playing in the garden during the summer months, the youngsters were kept in virtual darkness as every window was covered.
Eventually a concerned neighbour reported the dilapidated state of the building?s exterior to York city council and the authorities moved in, arresting
Passing sentence, Judge Ashurst said: ?Your children were being exposed to quite appalling squalor, a state of affairs you had jointly brought about.
?Every available surface in the house was knee-deep in rubbish and filth. All three were dirty and unkempt. This was due to your own self-obsessed behaviour.
'You the parents are both intelligent adults and therefore what you did is extremely difficult to comprehend.?
A dirty bedroom at the f 'hell hole' home
The two girls, aged one and four, and the three-year-old boy were unable to play in the garden and the house was ?eerily? quiet during the day, the court heard.
Prosecutor Peter Moulson said that when the family moved into the house in York in February 2006, it was in a good state of repair.
?However, it quickly deteriorated,? he added. ?The smell was putrid.?
Reports from two paediatricians revealed the children showed a ?developmental delay? with an aversion to washing and language problems.
Disgusting: The soiled and stinking bed the two other children shared in York
Glenn Parsons, defending, said the children had not been physically assaulted and their unmarried parents said they loved them.
He said the unemployed father had suffered from anxiety and a fear of open spaces, while the woman, who worked as a caterer, blamed the man?s ?controlling influence? for the cruelty.
A family court hearing will be held later this year to decide the children?s long-term future.
City of York Council refused to reveal if the family was previously known to social services.
The youngsters, aged one, three and four, were kept inside day and night by their cruel parents and forced to play among the filth and rubbish piled high in every room.
Yesterday the 26-year-old man and 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were jailed for three years at York Crown Court after admitting cruelty to their children.
Rubbish piled in kitchen of 'hell hole' home
Judge Stephen Ashurst told them: ?The three very young children were not so much living as surviving in that dark, insanitary and squalid house. They were prisoners in their own home.?
Detective Constable Debbie Outwin, of the Protecting Vulnerable Persons Unit in York, said: ?The only words to describe the house were ?hell hole?.?
The stench was unbearable and the house was littered with rotting food and human excrement, the court heard.
Banned from playing in the garden during the summer months, the youngsters were kept in virtual darkness as every window was covered.
Eventually a concerned neighbour reported the dilapidated state of the building?s exterior to York city council and the authorities moved in, arresting
Passing sentence, Judge Ashurst said: ?Your children were being exposed to quite appalling squalor, a state of affairs you had jointly brought about.
?Every available surface in the house was knee-deep in rubbish and filth. All three were dirty and unkempt. This was due to your own self-obsessed behaviour.
'You the parents are both intelligent adults and therefore what you did is extremely difficult to comprehend.?
A dirty bedroom at the f 'hell hole' home
The two girls, aged one and four, and the three-year-old boy were unable to play in the garden and the house was ?eerily? quiet during the day, the court heard.
Prosecutor Peter Moulson said that when the family moved into the house in York in February 2006, it was in a good state of repair.
?However, it quickly deteriorated,? he added. ?The smell was putrid.?
Reports from two paediatricians revealed the children showed a ?developmental delay? with an aversion to washing and language problems.
Disgusting: The soiled and stinking bed the two other children shared in York
Glenn Parsons, defending, said the children had not been physically assaulted and their unmarried parents said they loved them.
He said the unemployed father had suffered from anxiety and a fear of open spaces, while the woman, who worked as a caterer, blamed the man?s ?controlling influence? for the cruelty.
A family court hearing will be held later this year to decide the children?s long-term future.
City of York Council refused to reveal if the family was previously known to social services.
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