A man who submitted his siblings to a prolonged catalogue of physical and sexual abuse has had his community order changed to jail time by the Court of Appeal.

The man, from Burnley, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had his case sent to the highest court in the land after a successful appeal to the Attorney General’s office under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

He appeared there on Thursday, February 29, after the Attorney General found grounds to justify an appeal of the sentence.

The man, who was a juvenile at the time the offences took place, was handed a three-year community order in December after admitting to controlling and coercive behaviour and four offences of sexual activity between March and November 2018.

Judge Sara Dodd, who handed down the sentence at Burnley Crown Court, acknowledged in her sentencing remarks the punishment handed down was “a wholly sensational course”.

She had considered a two-year suspended sentence, but took the community order route as it was “more appropriate to protect the public in the future”.

However, at the Court of Appeal, top judges disagreed with the decision taken by Judge Dodd, and agreed with the Attorney General's Office that the original sentence was unduly lenient.

Instead, they imposed a sentence of three years imprisonment on the man.

At the man’s original sentencing hearing, the court heard how his mother was also involved in the offending and she was handed a year-long community order in November.

The victims in the case were described as being “frightened of him” and said they “felt safer when he was not around”, and have since been taken into care where they have shown signs of being very withdrawn and have constant nervousness and anxiety.

The man punched, slapped, kicked and sexually abused his siblings.

He was described as a very angry and very volatile young man at the time of the offending, who had “never had a life, he would say, because of his childhood”.

He was said to have matured and be very remorseful of his actions.