A LITTLE girl lived in horrific squalor with her single mother in a filthy and stinking house in East Lancashire, where the cupboards were bare, a court heard.

The pair's home had dirty and stained carpets, black water in the kitchen sink and bath and in the fridge, which was green with mould, was just half a jar of pasta sauce, which must have been there for months.

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Pennine magistrates were told how the kitchen was the most disgusting room in the property – it was so bad the 29-year-old woman had not been in it for months and kept the door shut.

When police went inside they found dirty dishes piled high, the floor covered in food and drink, gone-off milk and flies swarming around rotting food on the worktops.

Dog faeces was said to have been on a doormat at the house and upstairs the bathroom was littered with sanitary products.

The child was taken away from her mother and placed in police protection.

The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had earlier admitted child neglect. She was given a community order with 12 months supervision, was fined £35 and must pay a £60 victim surcharge.

The chairman of the bench told the woman, who spent four days in custody after her arrest: “What concerns us most is the fact, mentioned in the pre-sentence report, that you are unwilling to have GP intervention.

“This is no condition to bring a child up in. You need to take the help being offered by the probation service and your family.”

Lee Hammond, defending, said the mother had no previous convictions. There was no evidence to suggest the child suffered any ill-health or injury or was the victim of an assault or at immediate risk of any harm.

The mother would say two rooms in the house were in a good state. The defendant, who had started to suffer anxiety and depression, had struggled to bring the child up after the girl's father walked out when the mother was pregnant.

Mr Hammond said the defendant and her daughter didn't spend a great deal of time at home. They ate at friends' houses and bought takeaway food so she didn't have to go into the kitchen.