A haredi couple in their thirties were reportedly arrested in Manchester, England after police found their eight young children had been left alone in the family’s filthy and unsafe home Saturday night.
File photo for illustrative purposes only
Haredi Couple Arrested For Child Neglect
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A haredi couple in their thirties were reportedly arrested in the Salford neighborhood of Manchester, England after police found their eight young children had been left alone in the family’s filthy and unsafe home Saturday night.
The oldest child is 11 years old and the youngest is only a few months old.
The family’s home was called “disgusting.”
The parents have been charged with child neglect and the children have been taken into state care, the Manchester Evening News reported.
Police described the family home as “filthy,” “appalling” and “disgusting.” The house was covered in excrement, used diapers and mold, police said. The house also has exposed electrical wires on walls and a shattered window.
When police arrived, they found “undernourished” children lying on a mattress on the floor.
Forty minutes after police arrived the parents returned home from doing laundry at a relative’s home.
Their 11-year-old daughter had been left in charge of the other children.
The family was supposed to fly to New York yesterday to start a new life there.
A judge decided to grant the parents bail, but prosecutors pointed to the family’s planned departure from Britain and other related issues and argued the parents are a flight risk and they appealed the judge’s ruling for bail.
The couple hold both British and Israeli passports.
The parents are still in jail pending that appeal, which will be heard later this week.
Prosecutors reportedly believe the abuse and neglect may have been protracted.
On Friday, a citizen saw one of the children, a three-year-old boy, walking alone in the rain wearing only a long sleeved t-shirt. The citizen followed the boy home and along with another citizen asked his mother if she knew her little son had wandered out of the family home. The mother, who appeared “vacant,” reportedly said she had not noticed he had left.
There were large amounts of trash on the sidealk and inside the home, the citizen also said.
The haredi couple’s attorney told the court that the children were properly fed, cared for and educated.
He also said that the Jewish community had “rallied round” the couple to support them and were prepared to offer “hundreds of thousands of pounds” to secure their bail.
[Hat Tip: The Lion.]