Description
A man and woman who brought 'unimaginable pain' to two children have been jailed.
David Aspden, 50, kicked a girl while wearing a steel toe-capped boot and poisoned her dog with antifreeze.
He also pointed a gun at a stray cat and told the youngster it would be her fault if he pulled the trigger, Preston Crown Court heard.
Judge Graham Knowles QC, sentencing, said Mr Aspden treated the girl and a boy with "cruelty that was almost casual".
When the girl, who can not be named for legal reasons, told Aspden's wife Sharon about his violence towards her, Mrs Aspden supported her husband. Mr Aspden went on to sexually abuse her, the court heard.
David Aspden, of Darwen, has now been jailed for 13 years for the sexual abuse and cruelty he directed towards the girl and boy. His wife, also of Darwen, has been jailed for two and a half years for cruelty.
Shirlie Duckworth, prosecuting, said while the abuse was happening, Sharon Aspden, a hairdresser, was frequently drunk to the point she would wet herself. David Aspden smoked cannabis on a daily basis.
On one occasion Mrs Aspden gave the girl a black eye when she attacked her in a drunken rage, Ms Duckworth said.
The couple were often violent towards each other, with Mr Aspden pushing his wife down the stairs.
During a trial at Preston Crown Court, it was heard that David Aspden showed the boy and girl pornographic. He also molested the girl, the court heard.
He abused her in front of the boy and on one occasion gave her a cannabis joint before ordering her to take her top off.
"I had no idea what planet I was on", the girl said.
But when the girl formed a friendship with a younger boy, David Aspden called her a paedophile.
"You are, amongst many other things, a hypocrite", Judge Knowles told him.
Following his conviction for cruelty and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, David Aspden told a probation officer the girl was "an attention seeker who thrived off the drama" and said the boy had been put up to giving evidence against him in court. Sharon Aspden claimed the two youngsters were lying.
Judge Knowles QC said there was "no realistic prospect of rehabilitation" for the couple and said they must be punished immediately and severely for what they had done.
In a victim impact statement, the girl said she had suffered mental health problems and self harmed as a result of the abuse, but felt proud to have brought the Aspdens to justice.
Looking directly at the pair in the dock, she said: "I would like to say I am not scared of either of you now and I have seen straight through both of you for what you are. I know full well you wouldn't have dared to do something like this to someone your own size.
"It has been a long journey but right now I am not doing too bad. I know now you will suffer as a result of your actions and I think I can find peace with that."
The boy said he was scared and upset by the way Mr and Mrs Aspden treated him.
Sending both defendants to prison, Judge Knowles QC said: "You two, between you, brought about unimaginable harm and pain to these two children."