A CONTROLLING stepfather who regularly beat two young children and subjected them to a “dreadful” childhood has been jailed.

William Taylor regularly assaulted Peter and Vanda Wilkins during the 1960s and 1970s, from about the ages of four to the age of 16.

But, Taylor, aged 75, was brought to justice at Bolton Crown Court on Friday, and sentenced to 27 months in prison.

The children, now aged in their 50s, only decided to pursue the matter after hearing about the investigations into former TV star Jimmy Savile, but Taylor was not convicted of any sexually related assaults.

The court was told how the two children were brought up in a culture of fear, and how they would often be subjected to assaults and humiliated for no apparent reason.

While living at Lightbounds Road in Johnson Fold, Mr Wilkins remembered being punched, kicked in the throat and being poked in the eye.

On one occasion, Taylor stood on his stomach, with the young boy feeling the full force of his weight on his body.

Taylor once grabbed the young boy and threw him, landing on the couch, and the pain in his shoulder was so strong that he could not take his shirt off.

Taylor called an ambulance, but threatened to kill the boy if he told staff the reason behind his injury.

Mr Wilkins tried to run away at the age of 15, but when he was found by police officers, Taylor punched him in the presence of the officers, who did not take any action.

His sister also remembered having a chair thrown at her, being punched and being hit by a belt.

The court heard that this was a fairly “uncommon” case, and that behaviour described as cruelty was far more common in those days.

Addressing Taylor, of Shackleton Grove, Johnson Fold, Judge Timothy Stead said: “What you did in the family setting, a family setting in which you had parental responsibility for those two children, in which you were undoubtedly the dominant figure, was beat them on a regular basis.

“The beatings went far beyond anything that can be regarded as justifiable, even in times gone by.”

Taylor had pleaded guilty to two counts of child cruelty at an earlier hearing.