PARENTS IMPRISONED

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 February 1931, Page 12

PARENTS IMPRISONED

CRUELTY TO CHILDREN. Arthur Townley and Nellie Lees, of Adelphi Court, Ashton-under-Lyne, were each sentenced to three months’ hard labour for ill-treating their three children. Mr H. Pownall (prosecuting for the N.S.P.C.C.) said it was one of the worst cases of child neglect. The parties, he said, were not married, and had ten children, six of whom had died. One night three of the children were put to bed, and a lighted candle was left in the room. One of the boys, Ronald, aged eight, was found to be on fire by Nellie Lees. “Ripping his blazing shirt off,” said Mr Pownall, “she again put him to bed, and did not administer'treatment. She went to a public house. A doctor was not called until the following day, and the boy was immediately removed to the infirmary, where he hovered between life and death for many days?’

Mr Pownall added that the question of insurance was a most important feature of the case, and he gave particulars of the deaths of six of the children and the amounts of insurance drawn. The magistrate described the case as a “terrible one.”