Couple face jail for torturing children by starving them and pushing them into ... trends now
A couple who tormented children by starving them, feeding them soap and pushing them into boiling hot showers have been found guilty of multiple counts of child abuse.
Cheryl Pickles, 35, and Andrew Hadwin, 39, malnourished the children until they were so hungry they walked four miles to scavenge through supermarket bins at 4am.
Eventually, when the youngsters confided the abuse to a trusted adult who raised the case with police, Hadwin and Pickles flew into a panic and forged letters which they pretended had been penned by children.
The letters, written with a childish scrawl, said: 'We are sorry, we told lies,' and went on to explain that they had made up the allegations against the pair.
Cheryl Pickles, 35, and Andrew Hadwin, 39, of Bowburn, County Durham, appeared at Teesside Crown Court, where a jury found Hadwin guilty of three counts of rape, seven counts of neglect, and one count of perverting the course of justice. Pickles was found guilty of five counts of child cruelty and one of perverting the course of justice.
But they were debunked as fake by a handwriting expert and Hadwin and Pickles, of Bowburn, County Durham, were convicted of a prolonged campaign of child abuse by a jury at Teesside Crown Court after a lengthy trial.
During the proceedings, jurors heard of chilling acts by the pair, including dangling one terrified child over a motorway bridge.
They now face sentence in April and have been warned to expect lengthy prison terms.
Their offending came to light in 2018 when one of the children bravely disclosed what had happened to her to a trusted adult, and an investigation by Durham Constabulary was launched.
During the inquiry, which spanned four years and involved more than 150 witnesses, detectives found that Hadwin and Pickles repeatedly abused the children by making them eat soap, locking them in cupboards, forcing them into boiling hot showers and baths - sometimes submerging their heads under the water - and withdrawing their access to food.
The children would often have to scavenge for scraps to eat, and on one occasion were found at 4am walking alone to a supermarket four miles away to try to find food.
The pair would also order takeaways and make the children watch them eat them while standing in stress positions for long periods of time.
Hadwin and Pickles were charged with multiple offences of child neglect and sexual activity with a child, and one count of perverting the course of justice.
Hadwin was also charged with three counts of rape in relation to non-recent abuse of another child which happened when she
