A cruel couple have been locked up after a lengthy campaign of physical and emotional abuse left three children traumatised as they entered their adult lives.
Lorna Dennington would regularly slap the three children for any minor indiscretion while her husband, Christopher, would idly stand by and watch.
Her husband also fleeced almost £60,000 from one of the victims after he was left in charge of a trust fund set up in the wake of the death of the boy’s father, robbing him of his future dreams.
Teesside Crown Court heard how one of the three children, who are all now adults, was forced to eat her food off the floor after being sick at the table.
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Another of the victims was pushed into the bath and had the shower turned on him after he returned home from school in wet trousers.
Philip Morley, prosecuting, said all three victims had suffered at the hands of the main perpetrator of the abuse, Lorna Dennington, while they were living in their Darlington home.
Dealing with the impact statement of the first victim, Mr Morley told the judge the man had been left feeling ‘betrayed’ after Christopher Dennington robbed him of his dreams of using his trust fund to buy a house.
The court heard how the two women victims had been left feeling suicidal following the abuse they suffered as teenagers.
One of the women said she was still too scared to leave her home in case she bumped into Lorna Dennington in the street.
The pair, both of Bedford Street, Darlington, admitted three charges of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 between January 2006 and April 2017.
The charges relate to the three children, who are all now adults.
Christopher Dennington also pleaded guilty to one charge of fraud, dating between March 2016 and May 2017 when abused his position while acting as guardians and spent around £58,000 from a trust fund set up for one of their victims.
The fifth charge the duo faced was a theft, allegedly committed between January 2012 and December 2016. They were accused of stealing £1,000 but the case was left on file after they denied the charge.
Andrew Nixon, in mitigation for Christopher, said his client now understands that doing nothing about the physical abuse was just as bad as taking part but said he has difficulties expressing himself.
He said Dennington maintained that he didn’t spend all of the money without checking with the teenager who it actually belonged to.
While Michele Turner, representing Lorna, said her client was ‘ill-prepared’ to be taking on responsibility for other people’s children and had been struggling with her own mental health issues.
Recorder Jeremy Barnett locked the pair up for 12-months each after deciding that only an immediate custodial sentence was a suitable punishment.
“All the children are now adults and have left the address but what I have heard is the dramatic affects of this course of offending that was set out in the victim impact statements,” he said.
Dealing with the fraud charge, the judge said: “To systematically run the fund down, which was there for him when he reached maturity, was callous beyond belief.”
The judge told both defendants he had given them a hefty discount from their sentence following their guilty pleas.
He added: “Any step that is taken to avoid the necessity for victims, who have been abused throughout their childhood, to have to relive their terrors in open court, should be encouraged.”
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