Any closure these victims had from winning their case has now dissipated with the absurd,disgusting sentencing.I don’t believe for one minute her husband was unaware of the abuse,only so much can be hidden and to say the case was historic from only 20 years ago is ridiculous.The legal system is a disgrace.Plenty of people cope with diabetes,how idiotic this decision is!!!
Ruth Johnston, 62, who fostered children for 11 years, beat children as young as two while treating her own young children like royalty.
Johnston forced one girl to lick a dirty carpet and left her so hungry she had to eat from bins.During her trial at Paisley Sheriff Court it emerged she hit youngsters with a slipper, pinched them until they bled, dragged them by the hair, force-fed them, put them into freezing showers and forced them to sit outside in the freezing garden for hours on end.She also rubbed a little girl’s soiled bed sheets in her face, made another run up and down the street in her nightdress and confiscated any sweets given to the foster children and gave them to her own youngsters.
As Sheriff James Spy found her guilty, he said the conditions the children had described in her Paisley home “would match a Dickensian description of life for deprived Victorian children”.Sentence on Johnston had been deferred so social workers could compile a report on what punishment would benefit both her and the community the most.The court heard Johnston, who walks with a crutch, had become a target since details of the case were published in the press.
Louise Arrol, defending, said jailing Johnston would affect her husband Gordon, a former church elder, who suffers from type-1 diabetes.At an earlier court hearing Gordon, who was charged alongside his wife, suffered from a diabetic episode and proceedings had to be adjourned for a short while for it to pass.
Charges that he assaulted three children were found not proven.Sentencing, the sheriff let Ruth Johnston walk free from court.He said the amount of time he could give her behind bars was “severely limited” by the historic age of the offences, dating from the 1990s, and the fact it was prosecuted at summary level – which only allows for a 12-month prison term.
Rather than jailing Johnston he placed her on probation and ordered her to carry out unpaid work.
One of her victims burst into tears as Johnston left the dock and walked free from court.
cpsinjustice1 