Hoarding Couple Slammed Over Child Cruelty A couple who admitted child cruelty after filling their home with junk have been spared jail in what was thought to be the first prosecution for hoarding. Ambulanceman Duncan Scott, 47, and his partner Claire Anderson, 46, were handed six-month prison terms suspended for two years, and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work each. The judge at the Old Bailey said they were lucky he was not jailing them immediately. The court heard there were piles of clothes in the bedrooms and toys and other items from car boot sales all over the house. The pair pleaded guilty to four charges of child cruelty by providing inappropriate living conditions for four children between September 2007 and September 2011. Police and social workers who went to the three-bedroom terraced property in Bedfordshire found the youngsters were eating their meals on the stairs because the kitchen was so cluttered. The couple had been warned after social workers visited the house on a number of occasions, but were ignored. Charles Ward-Jackson, prosecuting, said the house was "extremely untidy" but it was accepted that it was clean. Judge John Bevan told Scott: "As an ambulance technician, you should have known better." Addressing Anderson, he said: "You were addicted to car boot sales and clutter. The children were unkempt and untidy. Despite claiming you were suffering depression, you were not prevented from going to car boot sales and making the situation worse and worse. The judge also observed: "He has got money problems, she seems to spend it all at car boot sales. She seems to have spent a lot of time socialising at them in order to give her a social life. The couple were on bail and Judge Bevan told them: "You can count yourselves fortunate that you are leaving by the same door you came in through." He said the couple appeared to blame each other. He added: "The evidence demonstrates, and one only has to look at the photographs, that you were slovenly. The photographs are dreadful. The lower bunk bed could not appear to be seen. There was nowhere to eat food other than on the stairs. Bozzie Sheffi, defending Anderson, said she suffered from depression and was physically exhausted. The children, who are all aged under 16, cannot be identified for legal reasons. The case highlights what appears to be a growing problem of people filling up their homes with possessions. Television programmes have featured families who cannot move around their homes or sleep in their beds.