Dogs in ‘house of horror were fed better than the children’

TWO well-nourished dogs were found in the ‘house of horror’ where a dozen children were kept in terrible conditions.

As parents David and Louise Turpin appeared in court, officials said that the pet dogs seized from the house in the Californian town of Perris were in better physical condition than their children.

District attorney Mike Hestrin said the eldest daughter is 29 and weighs only 5st 12lb while a 12-year-old is the weight of an average seven-year-old.

He said the Turpins allowed their children to shower just once a year.

They would buy food, including pumpkin and apple pie, which they kept out on worktops but banned the children from eating. They also taunted them with new toys they were not allowed to touch.

When police raided the house on Sunday, after a 17-year-old girl escaped and alerted them, they found the children malnourished and shackled. But they also discovered two healthy one-year-

old Maltese puppies. Perris city spokesman Joe Vargo said the dogs, one black and one white, were in ‘good’ condition. They have been put up for adoption.

Mr Hestrin said that only the youngest of the couple’s 13 children, a two-yearold girl, appeared to have been spared their cruelty.

The children were left tied up or chained in soiled beds for months at a time during years of abuse, he said.

Their malnutrition was so severe that it led to muscle wastage. Some are now suffering from cognitive impairment and nerve damage due to the abuse, said prosecutors. Mr Hestrin added: ‘This is depraved conduct. It breaks our hearts.’

The youngsters, seven of whom are now adults, were known as the ‘vampire children’ because they only emerged at night and looked deathly pale.

David Turpin, 57, an engineer, and his 49-year-old wife each deny 37 counts of torture, child abuse and false imprisonment. Mr Turpin also denies performing a lewd act on a child under 14 after he allegedly touched one of his daughters.

The couple were remanded in custody at the hearing in Riverside, California.

‘This breaks our hearts’