A COUPLE who subjected their five children to 'appalling neglect' which went on for years were jailed at Gloucester Crown Court this morning.
The children, who were infested with lice, "suffered terribly" at the hands of the married couple, said Judge Jamie Tabor QC.
Jailing the mum for two years and her husband for two years, the judge told them they had not been deliberately cruel but they were "inadequate, stupid, stubborn and incompetent" parents.
They had failed to keep medical appointments for the children or take advice and they had forced them to live in squalor which affected their health, the judge said.
The couple, from the Stroud area, cannot be named for legal reasons.
They each pleaded guilty to neglect of five children between July 2007 and December 2012.
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