Couple forces teen to live in squalor

LEICESTER, England, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A judge in England spared a woman a prison term for mistreating her teenage daughter by starving her and forcing her to do all the housework.

The woman's husband, the girl's stepfather, also received a sentence of probation and community service, The Daily Mail reported. Both pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors said that the girl, who lived with her parents and two half-siblings in Leicester, was subjected to treatment like that of an orphan in a novel by Charles Dickens, the report said. She was locked in her room at night, forced to eat in a separate room from the rest of the family and denied books and decent clothes.

She eventually told an aide at school about her situation, triggering an investigation.

Isabel Wilson, a lawyer representing the unnamed mother, said that her daughter's father had been abusive to her when she was pregnant, leading to her aversion for her child.

All three of the couple's children were removed from the home, but they are allowed supervised visits with the two younger ones. The 15-year-old says she wants nothing to do with her mother or anyone else in the family.