A woman who made a child eat her own vomit during a year-long campaign of cruelty has had her jail term increased by judges at the UK Court of Appeal.
Lorna Dennington, 47, admitted repeatedly hitting three children in her care, by slapping them, punching one child on the nose and hitting another in the head with a cupboard door.
She also dragged a girl out of bed and down the stairs by her hair on one occasion and would use a kitchen scrubbing pad on her skin if she thought she had not properly taken her bath.
In his ruling, Lord Justice William Davis described an incident where one of the children, who was said to be around 15 or 16 at the time, had thrown up her dinner, adding: ‘Lorna Dennington made her pick up the vomit from the floor and eat it.’
Lord Justice William Davis said the boy who is now an adult had wanted to use the money to buy a house.
In a statement, he said: ‘I am gutted that the money left to me after my father’s death is gone … They have taken away my dreams by stealing the money.’
Lorna Dennington was jailed for 12 months at Teesside Crown Court after admitting three charges of child cruelty.
Her husband Christopher Dennington, 51, was also jailed for 12 months for the child cruelty offences and one count of fraud.
