Vile mother shut naked son, 5, in cupboard with SELLOTAPE to go on day trip to Blackpool
Terrified boy was found in his own excrement after being locked away for 10 hours
A CRUEL mum has been jailed after locking her naked five-year-old son in a cupboard by sellotaping the doors - before going on a day trip to Blackpool and leaving him with just fruit and water.
The twisted mum's friend has also been handed a jail-term after the pair subjected the "helpless" boy to a horrific campaign of abuse, where at different times he was hit with a stiletto, beaten with a metal pole, and had a wound closed with super glue.
The tot's deranged mum, 40, and her demented friend, 29, were told by a judge that they meted out punishment of "a very cruel nature indeed".
The terrified youngster was found wallowing in his own excrement after he was locked in a cupboard for ten hours while the pair went to Blackpool.
His older sister told the court that he would be shut in the cupboard every time her mum's friend came around.
Both women, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the boy and his two sisters, worked as staff at a primary school, in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
The mum was handed a two-and-half year jail term, her friend was sent down for four years, and neither of them showed any emotion as they were led out of Bradford Crown Court.
Judge Peter Hunt said during sentencing there was inexplicable "deliberate scapegoating" of the boy between the summer of 2012 and the spring of 2014.
The women became close friends after the mother’s abusive husband walked out of the marriage, leaving her to bring up their three children alone.
Judge Hunt said the friend’s relationship with the defenceless boy was "highly dysfunctional" and he was in fear of her.
The judge told his mother's friend: “You meted out punishment to him of a very cruel nature indeed."
When she attacked the boy with a metal pole in April 2014, he suffered a deep gash to his chin and his arms and legs were covered in bruises.
On another occasion she hit him on the head with a stilleto and split his scalp open - only for the pair to use super glue to close the wound.
The judge said that when the family decided to go to Blackpool the friend "effectively imprisoned" the boy in the cupboard.
He said: “You both went to the seaside for a day out leaving him stranded and helpless in a cupboard in an empty house – this was a wicked thing to have done."
The judge added that in failing to intervene to protect her child the mother had been "seriously derelict" in her parental duties.
The single mother lived with the victim and his sisters, aged six and ten, in a three-bedroom house.
Her female friend was a regular visitor.
The older sister told the jury via video link that the three children shared a king sized bed and the empty cupboard was in the same room.
She said: “Everytime (mum’s friend) came to the house my brother was put in the cupboard."
The brave girl added that he would be sellotaped inside even when they popped out to the shops.
She added that she was "scared "for him when they went to Blackpool, and added: "First she told him to take his clothes off and then she put him in the cupboard."
Speaking about when her brother was attacked with a shoe, she said: “He got a cut on his head, which started bleeding. "The blood stopped when they put super glue on it."
All the children are now living at their grandparents’ home.
The boy’s mother was found guilty of two offences of child cruelty, between August, 2012, and April, 2014.
Her friend was convicted of two similar charges of child cruelty and two allegations of unlawfully wounding the child.
Outside court Det Insp Mick Ryan:”These crimes were appalling and cruel and committed against an innocent young boy.
“He had no means of defending himself from the people he knew and trusted. The family friend inflicted cruel punishment over a long period of time, and his mother who should have been there to protect him, failed and instead was complicit in his neglect.
“The physical assaults he suffered are beyond comprehension and can only be described as barbaric and vile.”