CREATING a father’s day card in school a child told the teaching assistant that his dad scared him because he would sometimes spank him.

Now both father and mother have appeared in court charged with assault by beating after social services discovered their heavy-handed discipline had landed one of their other children with a split lip.

The parents, both in their 30s, cannot be identified due to a court order protecting the identity of their children.

They came before the bench a Swindon Magistrates’ Court having both previously pleaded guilty to charges of assault by beating two of their children between February 1 and June 20.

The court heard from crown prosecutor Keith Ballinger that the offence had come to line on June 21 when the couple’s son was making a father’s day card at school. “During that activity he said his dad sometimes gets angry and hits him,” he said. “The school made a referral to social services and the children were interviewed by police.

“The boy confirmed again the incident he made to the class teacher. He said his dad had sometimes got angry and hit him on the bottom which had made him scared and sad.

“He also said his sister received a bleeding lip because she was hit by her mum. She says she wasn’t allowed to go to school for a week because the teacher might see the injuries and call the police.

“They were both interviewed and the mother effectively gave a no comment interview. The father admitted he sometimes spanked the children on the bottom but he would never do anything to hurt them.

“The original suggestion was that he had used a belt, but he said might get the belt out to scare them but would never use it to hit them.”

Their defence, Emma Handslip, said her clients pleaded guilty to the offences on a basis that was not originally accepted by the crown, but having concluded no child should be put through a Newton hearing, accepted their basis of plea.

“There is unfortunately quite a significant history to this,” she said. “The family has come to the attention of social services before as their discipline may not have been acceptable. They were sent on parenting courses to provide them with support. This is about reasonable chastisement going beyond what us acceptable in law.”

The children were put into foster care but are now living with a grandparent while contact is rebuilt with the parents.

Sentencing them, the bench imposed an 18 month community order with 70 hours of unpaid work to be completed within the next 12 months along with 20 rehabilitation days under the supervision of the probation service for each parent.

The each must also pay £85 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case to court and an £85 victim surcharge.