This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Northend woman jailed for non-recent child neglect offences
23/05/2023
Elsie Wheddon grabbed one victim’s hair to mop up urine
A woman from Northend has been sent to prison for ten years for past offences involving the neglect of children in Oxfordshire.
71-year-old Elsie Wheddon was sentenced yesterday at Brighton Magistrates’ Court. She had been convicted of 13 counts of child neglect during a trial at Oxford Crown Court which finished in February.
The court heard that Wheddon had subjected the children to neglect in a number of horrific ways, including allowing rat like creatures to run over and bite them, locking them in rooms, cupboards and the attic, and subjecting them to beatings.
She failed to prevent her then husband Stephen Wheddon from sexually assaulting some of the victims on a number of occasions. He was charged with a number of sexual offences, but took his own life before a trial could proceed.
The court heard that on one occasion Elsie Wheddon had grabbed one victim and used their hair to mop up urine. On another occasion she dunked one of the victims in a freezing bath and held them under the water. She also allowed her husband Stephen to burn one victim with a lighter.
All the offences happened in Oxfordshire.
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Phillipa Metcalfe said: “This case can only be described as truly horrific and what the children were put through was quite clearly an absolute hell.
“Elsie Wheddon was cruel, violent and also allowed her then husband, to carry out sexual and physical abuse against the victims.
“I would like to thank the victims for their bravery in supporting our investigation and giving evidence against their abuser, and I hope that this case highlights that time will not be a barrier to justice being served.
“If you have been a victim of abuse, there are a number of ways you can report it to and there’s further information about child abuse and how to report it, however if you are in immediate danger then please call 999.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam