A woman jailed for putting three children through a ‘nightmare’ hopes to overturn her 10 year prison sentence.

Elsie Wheddon, 72, was in her 20s when she and her then-husband Stephen were responsible for a catalogue of abuse and neglect of the three youngsters at their Oxfordshire home.

Her former husband took his life in February last year, just hours before he was due in court facing 60 separate sexual assault allegations.

Only Elsie was in the dock in February, when jurors at Oxford Crown Court found her guilty of a dozen charges of child cruelty.

Prosecutors said she was aware of the sexual abuse carried out by Stephen and took part in some of the physical abuse and bullying meted out on the three children.

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The youngsters were locked in cupboards, the third child - a boy - was burned with a lighter, and one of the girls’ heads was used as a mop to clean the floor after she wet herself. 'Rat-like creatures' were run across their bodies, the children said.

“I was their punchbag,” one victim said. The second girl described her stay at the Wheddons’ home as ‘one big nightmare’. 

Oxford Mail: Elsie Wheddon outside Oxford Crown Court during her trialElsie Wheddon outside Oxford Crown Court during her trial (Image: Oxford Mail)

Sitting at the crown court in Brighton in May, Recorder Stuart Trimmer KC jailed Wheddon for 10 years.

Lawyers acting for Wheddon will go to the Court of Appeal in London next week in the hope of reducing the decade-long jail time.

Her appeal against the sentence will be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday, October 24.