House of filth: The 'unspeakable' squalor in which a mother was bringing up her four boys



Stench was so bad police officers had to keep escaping for fresh air

Covered in lice, the brothers, aged between eight and 12, placed in care

Police car had to be deep-cleaned after taking the boys away



Heavily-pregnant mother given 51-week suspended prison sentence



They were conditions unfit for a wild animal, let alone a mother and her four young children.

Clothes, dirty belongings, rotting food and rubbish were piled everywhere and strewn across filthy rooms littered with human and dog excrement.

When police officers entered the terraced house in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, to investigate allegations of child neglect they were shocked by living conditions described as 'almost beyond belief'.

The stench inside was so bad that officers had to keep escaping outside for fresh air.



The four brothers, aged between eight and 12, who lived in the filthy hell-hole were immediately taken into care.



When police officers entered the house they found clothes, dirty belongings, rotting food and rubbish piled everywhere. The rooms were also littered with human and dog excrement

The mother's four sons were immediately taken into care. They were infested with lice and required extensive medical and dental treatment

They were infested with lice and required extensive medical and dental treatment.

Their 35-year-old single mother later admitted four offences of neglect leading to unnecessary cruelty. She narrowly escaped jail after the judge at York Crown Court heard she was heavily pregnant with her fifth child.

The offences took place over a four-year period, beginning when the youngest boy was just four.

The jobless mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has a shameful history of bad parenting.

For years she has lived off benefits. Her four boys are believed to have been born to four different fathers. She lists her interests as 'singing and getting drunk on nights out'.

The children were originally placed on the Child Protection Register in July 2004, but taken off eight months later when social services judged the mother was improving.

The housing association property was in good condition when the family moved in.

But by the time police visited the house in January last year it looked more like a cesspit.

Such was the attitude of the mother towards her children that family photos of the youngsters were found under piles of rubbish.

Anthony Dunne, prosecuting, said:'Rubbish was piled so high in certain areas officers, who were shocked by what they saw, could not gain access to some rooms.

Rubbish was piled so high that officers were unable to access some rooms

The children were in such a condition that the police car they were taken away in had to be deep cleaned by outside contractors

'The children were in such a condition that the police car they were taken away in had to be deep cleaned by outside contractors.'

He said the children's personal hygiene was so bad they had been bullied by other children.

Ann Mundy, defending, said the mother had a new partner who was the father of her unborn baby. The couple were said to be 'trying hard to provide a good clean home and are hopeful the new baby will not be taken away from them.'

Mrs Mundy said:'In part, she blames her position on the fact that the various fathers of the children had left her on her own with no support.'

The woman was given a 51 week suspended prison sentence. She was given a two year supervision order and the judge ordered her to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

Recorder Rodney Jameson, QC, said the conditions inside the house were 'unspeakable' and warranted jail, but she was now co-operating with the authorities and he said he didn't want to upset that work.

The four brothers living in the house, aged between eight and 12, who lived in the filthy hell-hole were immediately taken into care

He said he hoped the non-custodial sentence was justified, adding 'I hope to God' the sentence is the right one.

The family who later took over the four-bedroom house last summer spent £4,000 to make it habitable again. The new resident said they found a basement storage room 'filled to the ceiling' with rubbish.

She said:'I opened the door and the smell just hit me - it was disgusting. I thought I was going to be sick.'

Another neighbour said:'I used to hear the mother screaming at them. I felt really sorry for those kids. It was abuse all the time - you could hear them crying.

'I don't want to be mean about the children because it wasn't their fault but even to look at the kids you could see they weren't clean. They obviously hadn't been washed or bathed.'

Detective Sergeant Mike Moorhouse, of North Yorkshire Police's Protecting Vulnerable Persons Unit, said: 'The living conditions these children were found in and their state of health was almost beyond belief and were amongst the worst conditions the investigating officers have ever found children living in.

'That any parent can allow their children to live in such squalid surroundings cannot be comprehended but it must serve as a reminder to everyone that the protection of children isn't just the responsibility of agencies, it's the responsibility of us all.'



