‘Despicable’ couple jailed for daily violent abuse of three children in their care

Victims subjected to 'barbaric' catalogue of beating, biting, hair-pulling and torture techniques

Foo Khong Heow and Yea Ping Chan (PA)

A couple who subjected three young children in their care to hours of near-daily abuse, including beating, biting and hair-pulling, have been jailed.

Yea Ping Chan, 42, and Foo Khong Heow, 49, also made the youngsters – a seven-year-old boy and two girls aged six and three – stand in stress positions, a technique sometimes used during torture.

The victims were found covered in bruises when police visited the couple’s home in Baring Road, Lewisham, London. An NSPCC spokeswoman called their treatment “barbaric”.

Chan was jailed for four years and two months at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of cruelty to a person under 16 and one count of assault by beating at an earlier hearing.

Heow was sentenced to three years and four months after pleading guilty to two counts of cruelty to a person under 16.

The children were rescued last September after a worried neighbour called the NSPCC expressing concern about the youngsters – one of who was adopted by the couple. CCTV footage installed by the couple at their home – and later seized by police – captured the assaults.

It revealed systematic attacks on all three children, but the main victim was the three-year-old.

Assaults included biting, sucking, hair-pulling, shaking and hitting with household objects and sticks. Chan would frequently drag her from her bed at night for more punishment. At one point Heow was filmed forcing his feet into the child's mouth.

Officers discovered the toddler's left arm was twice the size of her right arm after the NSPCC alerted police to the neighbour's concern.

The youngster had bruises around her neck, as well as extreme bruising to her face. When asked how the little girl had received the marks, Chan told the officers she had been sucked on her face as part of a prayer ritual.

Both Heow and Chan were arrested, while the children were placed into foster care.

Investigating officer PC Alice Hammick-Smith, from the Metropolitan Police’s child abuse and sexual offences command, said in a statement: "Both Chan and Heow carried out a despicable campaign of abuse on three young, defenceless children.

"These children should have been protected from harm by Chan and Heow, instead, they were subjected to extreme violence on an almost daily basis.

"The overwhelming level of evidence we gathered against them led to them having to plead guilty to these heinous crimes."

An NSPCC spokeswoman said: "Chan and Heow should have been looking out for the welfare of the three defenceless young children entrusted to their care. Instead they inflicted barbaric levels of abuse on them and made their lives a living hell.

"While this case demonstrates how the NSPCC and other agencies work together on a daily basis to protect children from abuse it also serves as a reminder that it is everyone's responsibility to look out for the welfare of children."

The spokeswoman urged anyone with any concerns about a child to contact the organisation.