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| Turpin case: California children 'chained for months' | Turpin case: California children 'chained for months' |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| California prosecutors have detailed allegations of horrific abuse by the parents of 13 children held in shackles at their home. | California prosecutors have detailed allegations of horrific abuse by the parents of 13 children held in shackles at their home. |
| David Turpin, 56, and Louise Turpin, 49, face charges of torture, abuse and false imprisonment, Riverside County district attorney Mike Hestrin told reporters. | David Turpin, 56, and Louise Turpin, 49, face charges of torture, abuse and false imprisonment, Riverside County district attorney Mike Hestrin told reporters. |
| They are due to appear in court to be formally charged. | They are due to appear in court to be formally charged. |
| Mr Hestrin said all 13 of the couple's children were severely malnourished. | Mr Hestrin said all 13 of the couple's children were severely malnourished. |
| He said the teenager who fled from the house earlier this week to raise the alarm had planned the escape with her siblings for two years. | He said the teenager who fled from the house earlier this week to raise the alarm had planned the escape with her siblings for two years. |
| She fled through a window with a sibling, who then became afraid and returned to the house, he added. | |
| The couple's children, who are aged between two and 29 and had all been home schooled, have been treated in hospital since being freed. | |
| Mr Hestrin said that the couple had punished their children by tying them up - first using ropes and later chaining them to their beds with padlocks. | |
| He said the punishments would last weeks or months at a time. | |
| If found guilty of all charges the couple face 94 years to life in prison, Mr Hestrin added. | |
| The 13 were found in an emaciated state in their filthy, foul-smelling house, police revealed earlier. Officers had at first thought all the children were minors but later realised some were frail and malnourished adults, they said. | |
| Mr Hestrin said that when officers arrived, three of the couple's children were chained to their beds. | |
| The charges against David and Louise Turpin: |