US parents ‘locked child, overnight in dog cage’

An American couple have been accused of locking their children in a basement dog cage as punishment.

Nicholas Chamberlain, 36, and Linda Chamberlain, 34, from Pennsylvania, are also said to have left their six-year-old inside a cage overnight.

State police troopers say the investigation began on 19 June when officers responded to a call of a child refusing to return home in Huntingdon County.

Police said the couple’s 13-year-old child escaped to a neighbour’s house to call emergency teams after the six-year-old was locked in the cage overnight.

The couple are both charged with false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of children.