A man who submitted his siblings to a prolonged catalogue of physical and sexual abuse could face a tougher sentence after being referred to the Court of Appeal.

The man, from Burnley, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has 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 is due to appear 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”.

The Court of Appeal is now due to hear the case next week, where top judges will take one of three options in handling the case.

They could either agree the sentence is unduly lenient and hand down a more severe punishment to the man, disagree that the sentence is too light and it will remain the same, or could even refuse to hear the case.

At the man’s sentencing heard, the court heard how his mother was also involved in the offending and 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they “felt safer when he was not around”, and have since been taken into care where they have shown signs of being very withdrawn and have constant nervousness and anxiety.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.

The case is set to take place at the Court of Appeal on Thursday, February 29.