It is one of the most horrific cases ever to be aired in a Scottish court.

The child sexual abuse carried out by five men and two women sentenced at Glasgow High Court this week, is beyond comprehension.

A girl still young enough to be in nappies, raped. Two older children subjected to savage beatings and sexual abuse. A child shut in a cupboard with a box of spiders; in an oven; locked in a fridge; a freezer.

One of the other children raised the temperature on the freezer to try and stop her getting too cold. A poignant, humbling aspect of the case is the empathy these terrorised children showed to each other in the depths of their suffering. The sentencing judge, Lord Beckett, paid tribute to the victims’ bravery. Referring to one girl’s witness statement, he said: "In stark contrast to what was inflicted on her, and its impact, an impression of innate humanity shines through her words."

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Why they did not get help sooner? The children were added to Glasgow’s Child Protection Register in July 2018, but it was nearly another two years before the living hell they inhabited came to light.

One girl had the worst case of headlice one expert had seen in 30 years, with dark rings beneath her eyes; another child was described as malnourished. They started going to a public building where they met a middle-aged man who tried to help them and it was only after that that the extent of the abuse emerged.

This case has prompted shock, revulsion, distress,........

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