Paul Dodds and Amanda Thomson embarked on a ‘savage’ torrent of abuse that they inflicted on innocent children — now they have been handed prison sentences
A vicious couple who subjected two children to a “savage” five-year reign of terror and abuse have been sent to prison. On top of this, they have been banned from contacting their victims for five years.
Paul Dodds and Amanda Thomson subjected two children to months of abuse, tormenting one helpless victim by tying them up with a dressing gown cord, before using clothes to gag them while they carried out their sickening crimes.
The callous duo went on to force the child to sit on a scorching radiator, starved them of food and refused medical care for wounds to their head, neck and hands. Now, a judge has sent both adults to prison for two and a half years each.
The court heard how Dodds brutally assaulted the child — who was between eight and 13-years-old throughout the campaign of abuse — by repeatedly battering their face and body and slamming their head against a cabinet and window ledge, according to the Daily Record.
He also yanked the kid from their bed and hauled them down stairs, continuously threw items at them and pinned them to the ground before hitting them in their face.
Thomson, 42, assaulted the same child by repeatedly striking their head and grabbing their throat and restricting their ability to breathe. The appalling list of cruelty included the victim being made to sit on the floor during mealtimes and on one instance Thomson hurled utensils at the child, causing a knife to hit their neck.
Dodds, 47, also targeted a second child, just nine years old, when he wound a dressing gown belt around their throat and constricted the youngster’s breathing by standing on it. The couple, tasked with caring for the children, committed the abusive acts at addresses in Bathgate and Livingston between October 2015 and April 2021.
Dodds, from Glenrothes, and Thomson, from Bathgate, denied the allegations but were found guilty by a jury after a four-day trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month. The pair returned to court on Tuesday (November 18) for sentencing, where Sheriff Kevin McCarron stated: “You have both been convicted unanimously, and unsurprisingly, by a jury of offences that span over a period of five and a half years.”
He added: “During that period, your behaviour can only be described as savage brutality towards two children who merited nothing more than your love, your care and attention.” The judge also praised the children for their courage in coming forward, although they were initially hesitant.
Sheriff McCarron sentenced both Dodds and Thomson to 30 months in custody and issued non-harassment orders prohibiting any contact with their victims for five years. Dodds’ defence agent stated that his client, a father of four, “continues to deny the offences he has been convicted of”.
Meanwhile, Thomson’s solicitor Alan Wickham told the court that the mother of five “accepts the seriousness of the offences she has been convicted of”. However, he said Thomson insists she is innocent of the charges.
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