A sadistic mother “abused, humiliated, belittled and neglected” three girls by starving them of food – and even forcing one to drink out of a toilet bowl.
Caroline Sharp, 65, did not allow one of the children to have a bath for six weeks as she treated the girls as “slaves”, a court heard.
It was “truly the childhood of nightmares” for the girls, with another so hungry she was forced to steal food in the middle of the night.
Sharp admitted three offences of child cruelty between June 1975 and June 1991 and was jailed for two years.
The three victims were in Grimsby Crown Court to see their tormentor locked up and all three were in tears as Sharp was led away.
Gordon Stables, prosecuting, told the court that Sharp was the mother of one of the girls and the stepmother of the other two, whose mother died in 1973.
The offences came to light in March 2015 when one of the stepdaughters approached the police.
She said that she became a “slave” and was not fed properly, The Grimsby Telegraph reports.
“She was so hungry she would pinch food from the cupboards but, when this was discovered, she would be hit by Sharp,” said Mr Stables.
“She was constantly hungry.”
The two stepdaughters were afraid to ask for food.
“They would go to school hungry,” said Mr Stables.
When the girls returned from school, they would be made to eat cold congealed porridge from breakfast.
“They would often not be fed between Friday teatime and pack-up on Monday at school,” added Mr Stables.
Sharp originally lived in Louth but later moved to Cleethorpes and Barnetby.
She has most recently of Glebe Road, Brigg.
One of the stepdaughters remembered an incident in Barnetby when she had to drink water from out of the toilet bowl because she was not allowed drinks.
She would be made to go without washing or a bath for days at a time and, on one occasion, it was six weeks before she was allowed to have a bath.
“She wasn’t allowed to use washing facilities or a toothbrush,” said Mr Stables.
When she started her periods, she was not allowed to use any sanitary protection and had to use newspaper or toilet paper.
“She felt she looked like a tramp,” added Mr Stables.
She had holes in her shoes and had to wear wellington boots in the summer.
She described her childhood as a “nightmare”.
The other stepdaughter had “no memory of nice times when she was growing up” and remembered being “smacked and starved”.
She was starved to the point where she would steal food in the middle of the night.
The stepdaughter was so hungry that she would eat the cold porridge they were served.
She described herself and the other stepdaughter as being “tramps” and “a mess”.
She had nits all the time and was mentally abused by Sharp.
The two girls were made to spend hours working in the garden and also had to do housework.
She described herself as an “emotional wreck”.
The daughter remembered having an “abusive childhood” and witnessed her mother treating the other two girls as slaves and “the lowest of the low”.
She herself was treated as a slave and remembered feeling hungry all the time.
She was force-fed egg sandwiches and fatty mince, which made her sick, but Sharp found this funny.
“She was purposely dressed unfashionably, was given the opposite of what everyone else had and was belittled,” said Mr Stables.
When Sharp was arrested, she told police: “I know I’m not a nice person. If I could turn back the clock, I would love them. I’m very, very sorry. I’m not proud of it.”
Robert Underwood, mitigating, said Sharp pleaded guilty, had shown remorse and was frank during the police interview.
“The past has caught up with her,” said Mr Underwood.
“She is full of remorse. The legacy of what occurred has had an effect upon these women. She feels humiliated.
“She can’t turn the clock back. She wishes she could.”
Judge Paul Watson QC said that Sharp came into the lives of the two stepdaughters not long after the death of their mother.
“Their nightmare was only to begin,” he said.
“This was truly the childhood of nightmares. At your hands, they were abused, humiliated, belittled and neglected.
“They were starved of the parental care and affection to which they were entitled.”
Sharp starved them “in an even more literal sense” by keeping them from “basic essentials such as hygiene and food”.
This went on for years with the stepdaughters and Sharp also “rejected” her own daughter and “degraded her” in the same way.
“These children were, in fact, used by you as slaves with no care or affection to be shown to them throughout their childhood,” said Judge Watson.
“The effects upon each of them are lasting and profound.
“Each of them has been left with long-lasting and serious difficulties which they are struggling to deal with.
“Each girl is going to need therapeutic counselling for years to come.”
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