Couple jailed over 'hell hole' home

The 26-year-old man and 24-year-old woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, were jailed after pleading guilty to subjecting their children to "horrific" levels of cruelty, neglect and abuse.

The three children - two girls then aged four and one, and a three-year-old boy - were forced to live in abject conditions in their home in the York area between April and October 2008.

The alarm was raised after a member of the public complained to York Council about the dilapidated state of the outside of the couple's property, York Crown Court was told.

The authorities uncovered squalid conditions including festering rubbish piled high, rotting scraps of food and faeces and urine strewn all over the place.

The court was told the children were forced to share a soiled and stinking bed, and were found wearing nappies that had clearly not been changed for some time. There were no signs of even the most basic standards of care and hygiene.

The couple pleaded guilty to child cruelty charges and were sentenced at York Crown Court.

Detective Constable Debbie Outwin, of the Protecting Vulnerable Persons Unit in York, led the child abuse investigation by North Yorkshire Police.

She said: "The stench of the place was unbelievable. Even hardened officers, who have visited countless unsavoury properties in their time, were knocked sick by the disgusting conditions.

"The only words to describe the house was a hell hole."