David and Louise Turpin are accused of abusing their 13 children – ranging from two to 29 years old – before they were rescued on January 14 from their home in Perris. They have pleaded not guilty to torture and other charges.

A judge signed a protective order on Wednesday prohibiting the couple from contacting their children, except through lawyers or investigators.

Before the brief hearing, Louise Turpin looked at her husband and smiled.

“It protects everyone involved, including my client,” David Turpin’s lawyer, David Macher, said about the order. “I don’t want my client exposed to accusations that he attempted to harass or threaten a witness.”

Louise Turpin appears in court in Riverside, Calif.

Louise Turpin’s lawyer declined to comment after the hearing.

All of the children remain in hospital, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said.

Deputies arrested the husband and wife after their 17-year-old daughter climbed out a window and called 911. Authorities allegedly found the siblings in the family’s filthy home, with three of them said to be shackled to beds when deputies knocked on the door.

Investigators have learned that the children were isolated from each other and locked in different rooms in small groups, Mr Hestrin said.

The children did not have access to televisions or radios but…

The ex-US Olympics gymnastics doctor has been sentenced to 175 years and pleaded guilty to 10 counts of sexual assault against girls and young women.

Rachael Denhollander stood up in court and spoke for 40 minutes to her abuser, saying: “if you have read the Bible you carry, you know forgiveness does not come from doing good things, as if good deeds can erase what you have done. It comes from repentance which requires facing and acknowledging the truth about what you have done.”

She went to on to say he cannot earn Jesus’ forgiveness without facing up to what he has done, “in all of its utter depravity and horror without mitigation”.

Explaining the grace of God to him, Denhollander said forgiveness was available to him: “Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing.

“And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none should be found. And it will be there for you.”

Denhollander added that she wanted him to find repentance: “I pray you experience the soul crushing weight of guilt so you may someday experience true repentance and true forgiveness from God, which you need far more than forgiveness from me-though I extend that to you as well.”

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Premier spoke with Christian gender justice specialist after the surfacing of allegations that hostesses were targeted during a Presidents Club dinner – an annual event attended by wealthy and influential figures – last week.

Natalie Collins encouraged congregations to recognise that church communities are not immune from sexual impropriety, and they should take seriously the claims of women who say they have been abused.

She explained: “As Christians, we like to think that our communities are safe.

“We like to think that we’re able to judge accurately whether somebody is a safe person to be around.

“What we often see, particularly when Christians are accused of bad behaviour of any sort, there is often a lot of people who come to their defence… because their experience of this person has been good.

“It’s about us all being willing to open our hearts and minds to the fact we may not be fully able to know whether somebody is or isn’t abusive…”

The spotlight fell on the Presidents Club after the Financial Times sent two undercover reporters to the black-tie dinner at the Dorchester Hotel last Thursday.

The Charity Commission said it is investigating the allegations, while dozens of MPs have demanded to know whether any crimes were committed.

Reacting to the allegations, Prime Minister Theresa May said she was…