A couple who kept a 12-year-old boy in a filthy, fly-infested house, and were too busy to notice he had gone BLIND, were jailed on September 12, 2014, for neglect. Gillian Hendry and Craig Dick ( both 34 ), kept the boy and his 2-year-old sister in a house littered with bin bags, and dirty diapers. Cataracts caused the boy to go blind in his left eye, because the couple failed to take him for hospital appointments, that could have saved his sight. Hendry and Dick had previously told social workers that they never looked the child in the face, and claimed they were too busy to notice the boys left eye was white. The child had suffered with sight problems for a year and half. Social services were called in when the child became increasingly crippled with arthritis, leaving him with a limp. The court heard that the dirty conditions (as well as arthritis) had put the boys sight at risk. Hendry was sentenced to 2 and half years, and Dick for 2 years and 2 months. At Teesside Crown Court, a clearly exasperated Judge Crowson told the pair: His pupil was white not black. The cataract was visibly obvious for at least 6 months and it could not be missed. You suggest that you were both extremely busy when neither of you had paid employment and lived on benefits. The best interpretation I can put on it, is that you are both ashamed and find it difficult to publicly accept what you did. When doctors raised concerns about the childs health in August of last year, officials visited the couples home but were stopped from entering. Prosecutor David Crook said officials returned with police, who found Hendry and Dick hurriedly trying to tidy up. Stunned officers found the bath full of dirty cold water, the boys bed covered in rubbish, and a bedroom which had been used as a toilet. The landing was strewn with bin bags, open bags were found containing soiled diapers and a filthy kitchen full of flies. The toddlers bed was also covered in mold. The children were immediately taken into care. The boy now lives with his biological father while the girl, who was fathered by Dick, is being put up for adoption. ~WO~
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 16:21:25 +0000
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