AN ANGUS couple who had admitted child neglect were each jailed for 70 days at Arbroath Sheriff Court yesterday.

They had both previously admitted wilfully neglecting their four children over a four-month period in a house that was also home to several large dogs— resulting in three of the children being infected with the toxocara canis worm from contact with faeces.

Their home life of squalor affected one of the children so badly that he exhibited canine behaviour, barking and growling when distressed at school, the court heard.

Earlier this month the couple appeared before Sheriff Norrie Stein and had sentence deferred for the preparation of background reports, with the sheriff warning them then that they faced imprisonment.

The couple had admitted that, between May 1 and August 19 last year, at their home, they wilfully neglected the children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to their health.

The charge specified that, between these dates, the couple failed to wash and clothe the children adequately; failed to provide them with clean and adequate bedding; failed to provide them with adequate living conditions in that the house was full of rubbish, dog excrement and flies and had a dirty kitchen and toilet; and failed to supervise them adequately whereby one child played in drains on the roadway and was at risk from passing cars and two children climbed out of an upstairs window.

Depute fiscal Keith Robertson told the court yesterday that the couple, who have been married for 15 years, lived with their four children in a house which also contained the dogs.

Mr Robertson said the dogs were the source of “considerable complaint” from neighbours due to the noise, smell and excrement they produced and the flies it attracted, with one neighbour—who was unable to open his windows and had to tape up all the air vents in his house—describing the situation as “intolerable”.

In addition to the neglect charge, the woman had also admitted four charges relating to allowing dogs under her care to run out of control and place others, including children, in a state of fear and alarm, for which she was fined £200.

Mr Robertson said the staff from Angus Council’s social work department had been involved with the family for some time but that this contact had effectively broken down at the end of April last year when the couple stopped co-operating with the service, failing to keep all but two of 15 appointments made with them.

Prior to this, and as recently as April 30, conditions in the house were said to have been “satisfactory” but Mr Robertson said this was not case when a multi-agency team visited on September 19.

Then, he said, the couple voluntarily allowed police officers, social workers and environmental health officers access initially to the ground floor of the house and then “reluctantly” to the upstairs rooms.

Mr Robertson told the court, “I can only speak for what the police officers provided in their statements but some of the officers involved, who were very experienced, described what they saw as horrendous.

“The common denominator was the presence of rubbish within the house, an overpowering smell of urine throughout and the presence of dogs and their excrement.

“I don’t want to labour the point, but once those present were allowed upstairs the smell was described as unbearable.”

Mr Robertson added, “The ammonia in the air was so strong that all those present were required to wear face masks.”

A police scenes of crime officer took a series of stills and video footage of the interior of the house, part of which was played to the court.

All four children were immediately taken into care and, on being medically examined, three tested positive for toxocara canis, which Mr Robertson told the court was “a condition caused by the ingestion of animal faeces.”

Mr Robertson said staff at the school attended by two of the children had expressed concerns regarding their welfare, with the youngest boy described as “unkempt, dirty and smelling of urine.”

This boy, he said, was “not at school to be educated, but was attending there to be provided with a safe environment.”

His behaviour also caused concern, with Mr Robertson saying, “It was on the one hand bizarre, but on the other hand could only be described as tragic.

“He had been observed to hide under desks and squeeze into small spaces, the significance of that being that he was mimicking canine behaviour.

“He was also known, when distressed, to bark and to growl.”

Mr Robertson also described how the same boy was seen by a neighbour to emerge from a street drain and almost be hit by a car and how he and one of his sisters were observed climbing out of an upstairs window—the boy “using his bandages as a rope” and the girl hanging on by her fingertips.

Defence solicitor Billy Rennie said that, up until matters spiralled out of control to the extent seen in the video shown to the court, the couple had been coping reasonably well with their family—although they recognised that the accumulation of dogs was not helping the situation and had been seeking help in this respect.

Mr Rennie said a “chain of unfortunate events” had allowed their problems to get out of hand and that, by the time of the visit to their house, they had actually welcomed the intervention.

Sheriff Stein told the couple, “The conditions at the house really speak for themselves and I need do no more than quote a passage from the social inquiry report which sums up the court’s views on the matter.

“Regardless of the other circumstances, it is difficult to comprehend how a parent could put four young children in such misery, in such appalling conditions.

“That also sums up the public concern, and the court has to reflect such matters of public concern.

“The only appropriate sentence is one of imprisonment in each of your cases and, as this has been prosecuted as a summary case, the maximum sentence available is one of three months’ imprisonment, which would certainly be appropriate.”

As the couple had pleaded guilty at an earlier stage, however, the sheriff said they were entitled to a reduction in their sentences and ordered that they each serve a period of 70 days.

Speaking after the sentences were imposed on the couple, Angus Council social work convener Councillor Glennis Middleton said, “Distressingly, these parents refused to accept responsibility for the most basic care and everyday needs of their own children, despite having the means and ability to do so.

“These sentences should serve as a warning to others caring for children that neglect will not be tolerated.”