Parents Left Their Children To Die

[Keepers Ball]

PARENTS LEFT THEIR CHILDREN TO DIE

Nov 24 2004

In one room a mum and dad lived in hi-tech heaven .. in the next room their kids were starving to death in squalor

Boozy Sarah Whittaker and David Askew - both 24 - spent their time in a smart lounge equipped with satellite TV, two DVD players, a computer, PlayStation, video recorder and more than 100 CDs, films and games.

Feet away their children slept on urine-soaked mattresses in bedrooms whose floors, walls and windows were smeared with dog and human excrement. There were only scraps of food in the house.

One "skeletal and grey" 18-month-old twin boy was within hours of death when police were called to the terraced house. His brother was also seriously ill.

The youngsters each weighed only 8.8lbs - 40 per cent of their expected weight. A hospital consultant said it was the worst case of malnutrition he had encountered in the UK or outside the Third World, Sheffield crown court heard.

Jailing each of the cruel parents for seven years yesterday, judge Alan Goldsack QC said: "Shortage of money does not lie behind this.

"You kept your own bedroom and living room in a perfectly reasonable state. Yet behind the doors of your home your children were slowly being starved to death.

"Most people will be unable to understand how anyone can allow children to suffer like this."

Whittaker wept as the judge passed sentence.

The twins, two sisters aged eight and four and a brother aged three are now in foster care.

Their plight emerged when Whittaker phoned for an ambulance in June as one of the baby boys was "lifeless". Police who attended were almost physically sick at the stench of the bedrooms and kitchen.

The woefully undernourished youngster was taken to hospital with his brother and put on a ventilator in intensive care.

He was passing live maggots into his nappy. The three-year-old boy, who was kept locked in his room, was found huddled in a corner wearing soiled underpants.

Prosecutor Andrew Hatton said: "The children were clearly allowed to live in utter squalor.

"There were very few toys. But there were seven empty lager cans and an almost empty bottle of wine on the floor."

In June, a neighbour found the twins motionless in a bedroom with both parents drunk.

Both might have died if they had not been cared for and fed by their elder sister. It was she who alerted her mother to her baby brother's condition.

Teachers became concerned when she arrived at school without a coat and sometimes without underwear. She was dirty, smelled and had black fatigue rings round her eyes.

Although social services had never been involved with the family, a health visitor found nothing wrong during a visit.

Whittaker's lawyer, Amanda Denton, said the mum had been either pregnant or giving birth since the age of 15 and could not cope. Ms Denton said: "She acknowledges that her failure is massive."

Askew's lawyer said he was remorseful. The couple admitted five counts of cruelty.

Sheffield Area Child Protection Committee said yesterday: "This is shocking. We deeply regret we were unable to prevent this neglect. We will learn lessons."

Am I alone in thinking seven years is to good??

[The Man In Black]

We can ban people from keeping pets, surely we should be able to ban them from keeping kids?

You're right, this is too good for them - in prison they'll have a cushy life - with TVs, games rooms, a gym, hot food, people to talk to etc. - unlike what their kids had to live with.

It just goes to prove that anyone can have a child but not everyone can be a parent

[RedM]

I have worked with children in a very similar case in Bristol, although it was largely covered up at the time to the media. Again twins were involved. it took a lot of care and attention to help these children, who will never be 'normal' as we know it. When we had them at the nursery they were aged about 2 and couldn't stand or walk normally as they had been tied up and kept like dogs, they would bite you quite viciously too. With lots of help and after being with us for nearly 3 years, they were eventually adopted but it took even more special people than usual to take them.

The parents, well they pleaded ignorance because of low intellegence and the way they had been brought up themselves. They went on to have other children, (the twins were the youngest of 6 already), I think each child was taken away when Social services could.

Sadly similar cases are all too frequent, you would be horrified to see what some people do to their children. There needs to be so much evidence gathered in the cases, and people are very clever and sly.

[Taz]

That is absolutely sick. How the hell can somebody give them 7 years in jail for doing something like that!?

I can't actually think of anything else to say to be honest, I'm in total shock after reading that. How anybody could bring up children and treat them worse than an animal is beyond me.