David Turpin, 56, and Louise Turpin, 49, starved their children to the point that their growth was stunted, chaining them to their beds for months at a time and forbidding them from showering more than once a year or using the toilet, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

“The victimisation appeared to intensify over time,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in announcing charges. “What started out as neglect became severe, pervasive, prolonged child abuse.”

The couple were charged with torture, child abuse, dependent adult abuse and false imprisonment. David Turpin was also charged with performing a lewd act on a child under the age of 14.

The litany of abuses was enough to invoke a house of horrors that apparently went unnoticed for years in California and Texas until Sunday, when a 17-year-old girl managed to escape and call the police.

The girl and her siblings had plotted the escape for two years, Mr Hestrin said. Another girl who escaped out a window with the teen turned back out of fear.

Mr Hestrin did not say what finally triggered the girl to act.

When officers arrived at the house on Sunday in Perris, about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles, they were shocked by what they found.

The children’s malnutrition was so severe that it was consistent with muscle wasting and had led to cognitive impairment…

Fortnum & Mason has unveiled an ‘Adam and Steve Circular Biscuit Box’ which features two men holding an apple and standing by the Serpent.

The design seems to contradict Genesis Chapter 2 which explains how God said it was not good for Adam to be alone, so he created a helper suitable for him – Eve.

Two alternative designs for the tins, which contained gingerbread biscuits, feature two women – named Eve and Niamh – and Adam and Eve.

Fortnum & Mason, which operates a flagship store on Piccadilly in central London, marketed the tins for Valentine’s Day next month.

The products were described by Fortnum & Mason as “baked to perfection to make a most memorable and, indeed, delicious gift for your loved one this Valentine’s Day.”

The sweet treat range appears to take inspiration from the Christian slogan “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve”.

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Church warden Ben Field, 27, from Towcester, Northamptonshire, and magician Martyn Smith, 31, from Redruth, Cornwall, were arrested on suspicion of two counts of murder, two counts of conspiracy to murder, two counts of suspicion of fraud by false representation, conspiracy to defraud and one count of burglary.

They have both been released on bail until 13th February.

Thames Valley Police launched a double murder inquiry into the deaths of Peter Farquhar, 69, and 83-year-old Ann Moore-Martin who died a year-and-a-half apart in the village of Maids Moreton, near Buckingham.

A third man, aged 22, from Milton Keynes, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, conspiring to commit fraud by false representation and fraud by false representation.

He has been named in reports as Tom Field and has been released pending further investigation.

The Field family has asked for privacy and father Ian told The Times: “We are deeply distressed with the investigation.

“We are co-operating fully with authorities and ask for privacy at this difficult time.”

A death certificate has shown that the death of Mr Farquhar, a retired teacher and university lecturer, was ruled as an accident at an inquest held in November 2015 by retired Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett who found that he died of “acute alcohol intoxication”.

An…