year-old child who was locked in a coal bunker by his own cruel parents. The child was locked up day and night with just a soiled mattress and a potty and was only let out to go to school, a court heard. He is now in care and his mother, 32, and father, 41, are facing jail after admitting child cruelty — and now boasts to social workers that he has got his first toothbrush and can play in the park like other children. Detective Constable Matt Normanton, who investigated the case, said: “The child was found to be kept in a cell, living in poor, inhumane conditions. “I have never seen anything like it — the place was far worse than a police or prison cell. I hope I never come across anything like this again. It was just big enough for a single mattress and a ceramic potty, which was full of urine.” The former coal bunker had been bricked up to become an extension to the family's semi-detached house in Blackpool.
