Parents shot their kids for not doing chores properly

By Abigail Malbon|

A court has heard how a couple would shoot their children as a “bizarre” punishment for not doing chores properly.

The pair, from Blackpool in the UK, used the weapon on their five children, who are aged between seven and 15. They were allegedly arrested when one girl told a teacher how her wounds were caused.

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, initially denied the allegations, but later pleaded guilty to five counts of child cruelty. 

The 50-year-old father was jailed for two years, while the 33-year-old mother was given a suspended sentence and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that the man bought the air gun to shoot birds and to use as a form of punishment on his children. 

One girl said that she was shot “on the legs, arms, stomach and back,” while another, aged 13, claimed that her father used the gun on her because he said she was too young to have a boyfriend. 

The court was told that the man would use the gun mostly, but his wife would take over if he was not at home. 

The defence lawyer said the father had "always accepted he has failed in terms of his parenting", while Ciaran Rankin, defending his wife, said the "misguided" shootings "began as a bit of fun and developed from there".

Sentencing the pair, Judge Robert Altham said “this was the behaviour of people who had developed a system, a regime of discipline, that involved this form of violence.”

He added that the children found it “extraordinarily stressful to be living in a house where this was a form of punishment meted out on them for fairly trivial behaviour.”