Foster Mother Guilty Of Cruelty

A foster mother who punished three children in her care by ramming sticks down their throats has been convicted of abuse spanning 20 years. Eunice Spry, 62, from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, was convicted of 26 charges and cleared of 12 charges.

{mosimage}The prosecution said Spry’s treatment was “horrifying” and “sadistic.” Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board said: “She deliberately set out to deceive…all of the agencies involved over a 20-year period.” The offences took place in two of Spry’s homes in Gloucestershire between 1986 and 2005.

She was found guilty at Bristol Crown Court of a range of charges from unlawful wounding, cruelty to a person under 16, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, perverting the course of justice and witness intimidation.

The jury heard that the children were forced to drink bleach and eat their own vomit. Spry, a devout Jehovah’s witness, denied all the claims made against her and said the only physical punishment she ever used was “a smack on the bottom”.