Mother and friend sellotaped son, 5, naked in cupboard for ten hours while they spent the day in Blackpool

A mother and her friend have been jailed after they sellotaped her five-year-old son in a cupboard, leaving him there naked, for ten hours while they enjoyed a day out at the seaside with his siblings. The boy's 40-year-old mother and her 29-year-old friend spent the day at Blackpool, leaving the terrified child locked in a dark cupboard with only fruit and water for the whole day.

When they returned at 9.30pm they found him covered in his own excrement.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the boy who lived with his single mother and his sisters, aged six and ten in a three-bedroom house had been subjected to a horrific campaign of abuse after being scapegoated by the women.

In April 2014, the friend attacked him with a metal pole, causing a deep gash to his chin. The boy's older sister told the jury via video link that the boy was often subjected to abuse by the woman, who was a frequent visitor to the family home.

"Every time [mum's friend] came to the house my brother was put in the cupboard," said the schoolgirl. "First she told him to take his clothes off and then she put him in the cupboard," she said.

In a separate incident, she hit him on the head with a stiletto shoe, leaving a gash to his head which the two women glued together with superglue. "He got a cut on his head, which started bleeding. The blood stopped when they put superglue on it," said his sister. She revealed that the woman went to buy glue from the shop. The boys arms and legs were covered in bruises, it was reported.

The judge said that while the rest of the family were taken to Blackpool for the day, the friend 'effectively imprisoned' the boy in the cupboard. "You both went to the seaside for a day out leaving him stranded and helpless in a cupboard in an empty house - this was a wicked thing to have done," said the judge.

The mother had left her abusive husband and was bringing up their three children alone. It was after her marriage breakdown that the mother, who worked as s teaching assistant at a Bradford school, developed a friendship with the woman who worked as an IT technician at the same school.

Judge Peter Hunt said the friend's relationship with the helpless boy was 'highly dysfunctional' and he was in fear of her, adding: "You meted out punishment to him of a very cruel nature indeed." The judge added that the mother had failed in her parental duty to protect her child.

Detective Inspector Mick Ryan said: "These crimes were appalling and cruel and committed against an innocent young boy.He had no means of defending himself from the people he knew and trusted. The family friend inflicted cruel punishment over a long period of time, and his mother who should have been there to protect him, failed and instead was complicit in his neglect.

"The physical assaults he suffered are beyond comprehension and can only be described as barbaric and vile."

The boy's mother was found guilty of two offences of child cruelty, between August 2012 and April 2014 and sentenced to two-and-a half years. The mother's friend was convicted of two charges of child cruelty and two allegations of unlawfully wounding the child. She was jailed for four years.

Both Muslim women, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of the children, showed no emotion as they were sentenced, Mail Online reports. All the children are now living with their grandparents' .

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If you are concerned about the safety of a child, contact the NSPCC helpline for advice and support on 0808 800 5000 or email at help@nspcc.org.uk or Text: 88858.

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