Cruel parents have been jailed after torturing five-year-old girl

Mother and stepfather who left girl, five, lying in ice-cold bath for up to three hours as ‘torturous punishment’ for misbehaving leaving her ‘minutes away’ from death are jailed for three years

• Georgia Newman, 29, and Jordan Michael Kilkenny, 29, tortured her daughter
• They made the five-year-old lie in an ice-cold bath for hours until she passed out
• Paramedics described her as blue and frothing at mouth, as doctors feared worst
• One said hypothermia was so extreme it was equivalent to ‘floating in North Sea’ 
• At Leeds Crown Court yesterday, the pair were each jailed for over three years

Two sadistic parents who tortured a five-year-old girl by leaving her in an ice-cold bath until ‘death was just minutes away’ have each been jailed for more than three years.

The child’s mother Georgia Newman, 29, and stepfather Jordan Michael Kilkenny, 29, inflicted the cruel punishment for up to three hours for misbehaving, a Leeds Crown Court heard.

When the child eventually passed out, the panicked duo thought only of themselves as they delayed calling an ambulance by 30 to 45 minutes and tried to warm her up themselves, the court was told. 

When the paramedics got to the property in Leeds, West Yorkshire, the young girl was described as unconscious, blue in appearance and frothing at the mouth.

Newman and Kilkenny both admitted cruelty on a basis that they had tried to get her out of the bath, but claimed the youngster had refused.

Newman was jailed for three years and six months while Kilkenny received three years and four months.

Heavily pregnant Georgia Newman, left, told her boyfriend Jordan Michael Kilkenny, right, to put her five-year-old daughter in an ice-cold bath before telling paramedics the child had hit her head

The child had also suffered a seizure and was put on a ventilator while doctors predicted she would not survive.

They used a ‘Bair Hugger’ heated blanket to raise her temperature, and even a bladder wash to push warm fluid through her body, prosecutors said.

The paramedic could also not straighten out her body because she was so stiff from the cold, prosecutor Richard Woolfall told the court.

The child’s core body temperature had plummeted to 25ºc – around 12º less than normal.

One medical expert even said it was similar to someone who had been ‘floating in the North Sea’ and had never known anyone survive from such extreme hypothermia.

But against the odds, the youngster made a full recovery and now lives with her biological father.

After their arrest, Newman claimed the child had slipped and hit her head, and Kilkenny said he had no idea why she was cold.

He had previously Googled what would happen if a child was placed in a cold bath for 45 minutes, the court heard. 

When interviewed, the child told the police said that it had been Kilkenny who had put her in the bath, at the direction of her mother, for her misbehaving.

 Sentencing the pair at Leeds Crown Court (pictured) judge Robin Mairs said: ‘It was a cruel and unusual punishment and you must have known it would have caused considerable discomfort’

Mitigating for Newman, Alex Menary said the mother was heavily pregnant at the time and had anxiety and depression.

He said: ‘She has had three years to reflect on her behaviour, she bitterly regrets what happened. There is clear and genuine remorse.’

Mark Foley, representing Kilkenny, said: ‘At no point did he intend to cause serious harm. He is disgusted by his actions.’

Sentencing the pair, judge Robin Mairs said: ‘It was a cruel and unusual punishment and you must have known it would have caused considerable discomfort.

‘She was subjected to an extreme, calculated and torturous punishment.

‘Medical staff recognised that death was just minutes away. That was the punishment you inflicted on your daughter.

‘The delay in calling the ambulance, I have little doubt, was concern for yourself and not the child.

‘Your parental culpability is equal.’

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