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Jeremy Kyle has spoken of his relief two malnourished and unwashed children were saved by staff on his show after they alerted police to their appalling conditions.

The overweight parents of the brothers were being filmed for the ITV series and the underfed boys, both aged under two, were looked after backstage.

But a social worker employed by ITV was so shocked by the condition of the brothers the police were called.

And two days later officers raided the couple’s “disgusting” home and arrested the pair on suspicion of child neglect.

Jeremy said: “The welfare of all our guests has always been paramount to the Jeremy Kyle show.

“This is such a tragic story but I’m pleased we were able to assist in getting these children into a safe environment.”

(Image: ITV)

A court heard the youngsters were then placed with foster parents where they “fed like animals” at their first meal.

Their mother, aged 23, and her partner, 26, have now received suspended 12 month jail sentences after admitting neglect.

In court the Judge, Philip Gregory, blasted the pair for starving the children while feeding themselves.

He said: “Looking at these two defendants it didn’t look like they were stingy with their own portions - they’re both well nourished to say the least.”

The court heard that staff on the Jeremy Kyle show spotted one of the children had a bruised face.

Both little boys were unresponsive, emotionally vacant, dirty and smelt of faeces and urine.

The court was told when police and social services visited the squalid family home in the West Midlands it was cold, with dirty clothes strewn around and human waste stains on the carpets.

(Image: ITV)

Judge Philip Gregory praised the TV team at the show’s Manchester studios for their prompt action in alerting the authorities in February last year.

And he told the couple, both from Coventry: “You had the care of two very young and vulnerable children. This was an enormous privilege.

“You were responsible to discharge that care carefully and properly so that these two children were well looked after, properly fed, kept warm and kept clean.

“Over a period of at least two months you failed immeasurably to fulfil that responsibility to these two children.

“As a consequence your home was visited and was found to be, quite frankly, disgusting.

“The two children were not properly clothed, you had let them get too cold, you hadn’t fed them properly and you hadn’t washed them.

(Image: ITV)

“You were both feeding yourselves more than enough but when these two children went to foster care they were seen to eat like animals.

“You only have to set out this history to see how appallingly let down by you these two children were.

“What matters most is that these two young children are placed in a caring home where they have got a decent future removed from you.

Peter Cooper, prosecuting, told the court: “A report from the foster carer describes how they were seen eating, gulping food down quickly like little animals, almost feral.

“She noticed them banging their heads on the floor and wall but that subsided during their stay with her.

(Image: Coventry Telegraph)

“By the time of her statement, when nine months had gone by, the only time they would behave that way was after contact with their mother.

“Both were examined - the younger child on March 4 and the older child on April 29 - and they had made rapid progress and put on significant weight.”

Coventry crown court heard both children are now with adoptive parents and it is likely an adoption order will be made.

At the time of their arrests the woman, who works in the fast food industry, was heavily pregnant with her third child.

That youngster is now being cared for by a family member.

It is not known if the episode of the Jeremy Kyle show featuring the pair was ever broadcast.