SWNS Their parents admitted neglect after the horrifying conditions were uncovered

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The youngsters were described as in a “zombie-like” state and near feral when they were rescued from the drug den in Leyland, Lancashire. Their parents admitted neglect after the horrifying conditions were uncovered, with the 23-year-old father handed a 14-month prison sentence. The children, all aged under five, were found abandoned in rooms with excrement smeared on the walls, all with a temperate and various rashes and skin ailments. Preston Crown Court heard they had been left to “starve”, and the children were so hungry officers were forced to go out an buy them some food. When they tried to give the children a drink they found only mouldy cups, with the hungry kids pawing at empty food packets. In the kitchen all officers found was a slow cooker full of cannabis. The house had no hot water, and the bathtub was filled with paint. Presiding, Judge Mark Brown attacked the local council for giving the pair “chance upon chance” and not intervening sooner. The conditions the children were found in include one room filled with “15 soiled nappies full of urine and excrement”, one young girl was trapped beneath a bed frame, one was in a baby bouncer near a heater in an overflowing nappy.

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Two children were in a room with urine and excrement smeared across the walls, and the small was so overpowering one officer was “overpowered by the smell” and threw up multiple time, the court heard. Prosecuting, Francis McEntee explained that the inhuman conditions were uncovered by chance in October 2015. He said: “This is a case of protracted neglect, the youngsters having been described as kept in conditions of fetid squalor quite literally. “Officers had attended the address in relation to an unconnected matter, looking for a third party. “Whilst they were dealing with the defendant, who had appeared at the door in just his underwear, the mum came forward protesting at the officers coming to her property suggesting they were bullying her.

SWNS The children, all aged under five, were found abandoned in a room with excrement smeared on the wall

“Permission was given for a search. Whilst they were on landing they noticed three bedrooms two of which had the door shut. A child could be heard. “The door was tightly shut. The officer opened it and he was hit by a vile and horrid stench. “Officers found there was faecal matter smeared and sprayed across the walls and indeed it had become apparent that the lower half appeared to have been repainted. “The officers noted 15 heavily soiled nappies full of urine and faecal matter which was open to the air.

The youngsters having been described as kept in conditions of fetid squalor Francis McEntee

“The floor itself was covered in faeces and scraps or stale food and there appeared to be intermingling of the two. “There were plastic children's drinking cups with fluid that appeared to be settled, with faecal material on those cups." In the room they found two children dressed just in t-shirts. Mr McEntee continued: “One of them had dried blood across the bridge of this nose and upper lip. Their appearance was described as dishevelled and dirty with food in his hair and stains around the body. “There appeared to be an abrasion to the forehead which appeared to have been neglected, dirty and sore. “They were very quiet. Neither child appeared to have been cleaned. The room had an upturned bed with a soiled mattress with no bedding or blankets.”

SWNS Preston Crown Court heard they had been left to “starve”

“The officer describes a response of retching at the smell - one officer was sick into his mouth a number of times. “Toys were strewn out over the floor. The state of the room was further enhanced by the number of flies buzzing around. “The officer heard a child screaming and asked if there was a child in the room. The defendant denied this but the screaming continued.

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“It could not be seen at that stage but having searched the room, officers located the toddler trapped against a mattress which was situated under a mattress, pinned down by the bedframe. Together they lifted the frame and pulled her out.” The court herd the children were “for all intents and purposes dumb - described as like zombies.” The father tried to defend himself, saying he had done his best as his partner had mental health difficulties. But she claimed the children merely had a habit of taking off their nappies and smearing the contents on the wall.

SWNS In the kitchen all officers found was a slow cooker full of cannabis

Philip Boyd, defending the father, said: “He was a very young man.” Mark Stewart, defending the mother, said she was in a “poor position mentally”. Speaking after the hearing, Detective Constable Lee Bradshaw-Wood, of Lancashire police's Public Protection Unit, said: “These people displayed an abject failure to provide basic care for such young, vulnerable children. “The investigation established the feral and dangerous conditions that these poor children were living in.