A couple who filled their home with junk narrowly escaped jail today for child cruelty in what is thought to be the first prosecution for hoarding.
Ambulance driver Duncan Scott, 47, and his partner Claire Anderson, 46, were told by a furious judge at the Old Bailey that they were lucky he was not jailing them immediately.
Instead Judge John Bevan handed them suspended sentences after hearing how the couple collected so much junk from car boot sales that children living there had to eat on the stairs.
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The court heard that there were piles of clothes in the bedrooms and toys and other items from car boot sales all over the house.
Police and social workers who went to the three-bedroom terraced property found the youngsters were eating their meals on the stairs because the kitchen was so cluttered.
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