Parents of dead girl get year in jail

London: The parents of an eight-year-old girl who died after being locked up in a "revolting and squalid" bedroom were jailed for a year on Friday.

A court heard that Charlotte Avenall, who had severe learning difficulties, was shut in her room for at least 12 hours each night.

Her mother Susan Moody, 24, and stepfather Simon Moody, 33, claimed it was for her own safety as she was a sleepwalker.

But the arrangement meant she had to use a chest of drawers as a toilet. Her parents made no attempt to clean the room.

The squalor was uncovered after Charlotte accidentally strangled herself with a window cord last September. Police said they had never seen a room so filthy. Charlotte had been known to social services and other welfare officials since birth and an inquiry has been launched.

Locked in room

Incredibly, Nottingham Crown Court was told, social workers knew Charlotte was locked in the room, but said they thought it was only while her parents slept.

Social services had last visited the family three months before Charlotte died. When officials called at the terraced house in Mansfield in August, after the neglect started, nobody was at home. No follow-up appointment was made, despite staff at Charlotte's school raising concerns.

Prosecutor William Harbage told the court that, in contrast to the squalor of Charlotte's bedroom, the Moodys regularly cleaned out the tanks of their pet spiders and lizards. The couple, who claimed £1,300 a month in benefits, admitted child cruelty, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years.