Worthing couple who left children in 'filthy' flat avoid jail
Police have described the conditions the girls were left in as 'the worst they've ever seen'
A Worthing couple, who left their two young girls in what police have called 'the worst conditions they have ever seen', have avoided jail.
Police found the girls, aged between one and five, in filthy, squalid and unhygienic conditions at a property in Littlehampton Road in Salvington last year.
28-year-old Marc Wearing and 26-year-old Charlotte Bond were given two-year prison sentences, suspended for two years, at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday (March 23rd) having previously pleaded guilty to child cruelty offences.
Each was ordered to carry out 300 hours community punishment and 30 days rehabilitation work. Wearing was also ordered to pay £450 court costs.
Police were initially called to the property on March 25th, 2021, after a report of flies and a bad smell coming from a flat.
Wearing and Bond were found to be living in squalid conditions with the two children.
The flat was full of rubbish, rotting food on kitchen surfaces, bags of human excrement and excrement on the walls, and many black bin bags of rubbish.
Detective Constable Lindsey Van-Buiten from the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit said:
"Attending officers described the conditions as the worst they had seen in their police career, and described the overwhelming smell and tens of thousands of flies inside the flat. Local people who called the police even thought there must be a dead body there."
The two girls were immediately taken to safety and are receiving the care and support they need. They are both healthy and doing well.
In sentencing the pair, Judge Christine Laing said:
"It breaks my heart that two little girls were living there. The first thing you should have done was get help from parents or friends, but you did not’. She also said that the defendants should "stop being selfish and prioritise children above your own needs".
The court heard that both defendants suffered from mental health issues.