Children kept in cages.

Five family members charged with cruelty 'for keeping boy, 8, and his sister, 9, in cages'

By Sarah Bruce
Last updated at 7:06 PM on 24th September 2010



The grandparents and aunts of two young children have been charged with cruelty after police discovered sinister makeshift 'cages' in their Glasgow home.

Four women and one man were arrested when officers stumbled upon the scene after a nine-year-old girl ran away from school and refused to go home.

It is understood her eight-year-old brother was being held in a 'cage' when officials arrived at the house in a respectable suburb on the south side of the city.

The adults were arrested and taken into custody on Friday, and appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday to be charged with cruel and unnatural treatment against a child.

All five adults were granted bail, but the two young siblings have been removed from their care.

An insider in the case revealed that the children - who cannot be named for legal reasons - were subjected to a suffocating regime where they were kept in the cages from early evening until leaving for school in the morning.

The source said: 'The cots had been built up like big cages to stop large children getting out of them.

'The children were going to school and when they got home they were put to bed in the cots early in the evening.

'They would not have been able to get out until they were let out for school the following morning.'

Police became involved when the children's grandmother reported the girl missing last Monday when she failed to come home from school.

Officers discovered the worrying sleeping arrangements as they searched the red-brick semi-detached house.

The family members - four women aged 18, 32, 32 and 52, and a man aged 52 - were arrested four days later, detained in custody over the weekend and appeared in court on Monday morning.

They made no plea and were released on bail, on condition they did not approach the children.

A Strathclyde Police spokesman spokeswoman confirmed: 'We can confirm that four women and a man were arrested and detained in police custody on Friday, September 17, in connection with Section 12 of the Children and Young Persons Act.'

Section 12 relates to 'cruel and unnatural treatment towards a child'.

It is understood the children have 'a complex background' and were living with extended family because of their parents' addiction issues.

It is believed the family is known to social workers, and the children have been living with their grandparents for at least two years.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: 'This is now a matter for the courts and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further.'

The new occupants of the family's former home in the city said the property was 'filthy' when they moved in late in 2008, with holes in the walls.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314861/Five-charged-cruelty-keeping-boy-8-sister-9-cages.html#ixzz10TOevnR9

I read this earlier today. It made me cry. Thank god that poor girl had the courage to ask for help.

Those poor children. I hope the people responsible rot in prison

Yes, could not believe my ears when I heard this on the box. I really can't understand what drives people to do these awful things.

Maybe they will all like being locked up in jail soon.

Angelique

Yes, time for some of their own medicine. Let's see how they'd like to be caged for a while.

Practically every day now we hear of another case of cruelty to a child or the death of a child, almost always at the hands of a parent or other person supposed to be caring for them. It certainly shows that the statistics that say children are far, far more likely to be harmed by a family member than by a stranger are true. And this isn't something confined to an underclass, it seems to happen everywhere. Very sad and very worrying.