Woman starved and beat girl, 8, while professor husband did nothing

Cruel: Sarah Semple, from Lancaster, starved and beat the eight-year-old girl. She was jailed for nine months

A girl of eight was starved, beaten and forced to do chores in the freezing cold by a woman while her university professor husband did nothing.

Sarah Semple, 36, pulled out clumps of the girl’s hair and repeatedly slapped her.

The child was often left to go hungry and once climbed on a table to grab some chocolates.

When Semple noticed she had chocolate on her face she ordered her husband, Professor Kirk Semple, 44, to ‘leather’ the girl.

She then struck the child repeatedly with a pair of trainers.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Semple, a former administrative worker, appeared to care more for the rabbits she bred commercially than the child.

In an online advert she wrote: ‘I give my rabbits plenty of daily cuddles. I aim to make sure that each feels loved, safe and happy.’

Last night Semple was beginning a nine-month jail term after she admitted child cruelty and assault.

Her husband, who pleaded guilty to child cruelty through wilful neglect, was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work.

Judge Peter Benson told the couple: ‘You are both highly intelligent people and that is unusual in a case of this sort because the stereotypical case of cruelty to a child involves quite often inadequate single parents struggling in deprived circumstances. That isn’t the case here.

‘That little girl was treated in a cruel and heartless manner. She looked at both of you to look after and protect her.’

He told the husband: ‘You were aware of the physical abuse and did nothing to prevent this dreadful treatment.’

Kirk Semple, a professor in environmental microbiology at the University of Lancaster, married Sarah Thomas in 2007, two years after the death of his first wife.

Heartless: Kirk Semple was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and 100 hours of unpaid community work

The couple moved into a £400,000 home in Bentham, Lancaster.

There Semple, who has ME, began breeding rabbits. The girl later told police how Semple would accuse her of seeking attention and smack her, often forcing her to stand in the freezing cold to look after the rabbits.

Her ordeal came to an end when she was found in the street in January, attempting to walk to her grandparents’ home.

Sarah Mallett, prosecuting, said passers-by noticed bad bruising and blood on her face and a bald patch on top of her head.

‘She was crying and shaking.’

At a police station she ate four crumpets and drank two glasses of milk before being taken to hospital.

Miss Mallett said: ‘A doctor found her to be a delightful, bright girl but she was unkempt, smelly and her hair was greasy.

‘She had bruising to her body, buttocks, legs and swelling and bruising to her nose and eyes.

‘The doctor concluded she had been subject to an extremely severe and frightening assault.’

Semple, who entered the dock with the help of two sticks, showed no emotion as she was jailed.

Kirk Semple refused to comment as he left court.