Six children found living in ‘Victorian slum’ house surrounded by filth and dead rodents

Shocking photographs have shown the filthy ‘slum’ house six children were found living in among faeces and dead rodents.

The house in Wirral, Merseyside, was cluttered with piles of rubbish, discarded cans and bottles, takeaway remains, animal droppings and even dead rodents when officers attended following a disturbance earlier this year, Liverpool Crown Court revealed.

The court heard checks were first made in 2010 about the state of the house, and when police attended in 2013, they described it as ‘unhygienic and dirty’, which was ‘conveyed to the authorities’.

The charity Catch 22 then described the house as ‘very poor’ in 2015 and when police visited the house in 2017 after some of the children had stopped attending school, they said it was ‘not dirty but poor’.

Crown Prosecution Service

Crown Prosecution Service

In 2018, police then expressed concerns to social services about the living conditions, with officers describing the house as ‘in poor condition’, adding: “There was a layer of dirt, no washing facilities, rubbish and mouse droppings and the bath is full of used sanitary products”.

But after a disturbance this year, police finally arrested the parents, who haven’t been named to protect the identity of the children. They both admitted to child cruelty at Liverpool Crown Court and will be sentenced in November.

According to the court, the father accepted conditions in the house were ‘very bad’ and the children ‘could have got hurt’, but claimed he had cleaned up about a month previously. The mother, meanwhile, claimed she worked ‘very long hours’, confessed they only ate takeaway food and said the ‘vile’ conditions were made worse by their large pet dog. 

Trevor Parry-Jones, prosecuting, said of the grim discovery: “What they [police] were confronted with could only be described as a scene of unutterable squalor, more reminiscent of the Victorian slum era than the 21st century.

Crown Prosecution Service

Crown Prosecution Service

“The bathroom was unusable, the toilet filthy, not having been cleaned for some considerable time, and there was a rodent infestation.”

A statement from one of the children read in court said the house was ‘an absolute dump’ and ‘not fit to be lived in’, saying it had been like this ‘for a long time’ and ‘no one should be living there’.

The victim said there was no running water, rubbish everywhere and ‘dog poo all over the place’, which was ‘disgusting’, adding: “I would say both my parents are to blame for these conditions. We just need help.”