Toddler fight women spared jail
The women were told they posed no risk to society
Four Plymouth women who goaded toddlers into fighting and filmed it have been given 12-month suspended sentences.
The four, who cannot be named, admitted child cruelty charges before sentencing at Plymouth Crown Court on Friday.
During the case, seven minutes of video was shown. A boy wearing a nappy was called a "wimp" for not hitting a girl back after she struck him in the face.
The four women, all from the same family, are heard laughing as the toddlers are urged to keep on fighting.
The boy, aged two, is seen crying after being punched in the face by his three-year-old sister and is told by one of the four women in the room "not to be a wimp or a faggot" and to hit her back.
One of the women pleaded guilty to causing or procuring the children to be ill treated in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury.
The other three pleaded guilty to jointly inciting the ill treatment of children.
The judge gave all four women a one-year suspended sentence, saying they posed no risk to the public.
The children are in the care of the parents of their father, who is a member of the armed forces.
Speaking after the case, investigating officer Det Sgt Barry Walters said: "Anyone watching this footage showing grown adults encouraging very young children committing unnatural acts would have been sickened and saddened.
"We have been in touch with child protection teams across the country and to my knowledge this is the first time that something like this has ever gone to court."
He said the sentencing was the "decision of the judge".
"Our priority and the priority of their family is the children.
"They are in a very supportive family who wish to bring them up the best way they can."
