24-02-2025
Couple accused of abusing five children for 11 years
A Falkirk couple have gone on trial accused of subjecting five children in their care to 11 years of Cole, 48, and Phyllis Arthur, 36, are said to have compelled the children, whose ages ranged from birth to 14, to live in "squalid" conditions at a house in Grahamston - where there was also a "deceased family pet" stored in the is alleged one of the children was forced to eat their own excrement while another was repeatedly assaulted and threatened with prison. Mr Cole and Ms Arthur pled not guilty to five charges of wilful neglect, contrary to the 1937 Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act, and two charges of child assault at Stirling Sheriff Court.
The offences are said to have been committed between February 2011 and February 2022.
The house the children lived in was said to have inadequate furnishings, rubbish and dog excrement on the floors and they were alleged to have insufficient food and boy was said to have been maltreated from the age of four until he was 14, including being made to eat excrement, being locked in a bedroom without access to a toilet, and suffering physical assault that caused boy was also said to have been verbally abused and left home alone, while the couple are accused of having sex with each other in his presence.A girl, said to have been neglected from birth to 11, was threatened with prison and injured by being punched, pulled and slapped, among several physical assaults. Three of the youngest children are said to have been neglected from the age of one or birth and compelled to spend "excessive" periods in their cots with heavily saturated nappies.
Further accusations
The pair are also said to have failed to ensure the children's attendance at medical appointments, school and nursery, while the older children were left to care for younger children without adult are accused of rendering themselves incapable of looking after the children due to alcohol and unknown medications, as well as not engaging with social workers regarding the Cole faces an additional charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive legal reasons, none of the children can be Wyllie Robertson said the jury should "not be swayed" by their emotions, and decide the case "solely on the evidence presented in court."The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.
