Pair jailed for life for murder of Anna, eight

A couple have been jailed for life for the murder of eight-year-old Anna Climbie, who died of hypothermia and neglect while in their care.

Marie Therese Kouao, 44, and Carl Manning, 28, of Tottenham, north London, were found guilty at the Old Bailey by a majority of 10 to 2.

The jury in the Old Bailey trial heard harrowing accounts of the tragic life of Anna, who was brought to London by her great aunt Kouao, a year before she died.

She was tied up in a black plastic bag and made to sleep in a bath for months. She was beaten with a variety of weapons including a bicycle chain and wire coat hanger.

The frail child began to stoop like an old woman, and slowly starved because she was fed left-over scraps "like a dog".

Kouao and her boyfriend Manning stood impassive as the guilty verdicts were delivered on the fifth day of deliberations.

Both defendants were also found guilty of child cruelty by unanimous verdicts.

Judge Richard Hawkins said lessons had to be learned "about the failure of social services and police in this case".

Judge Richard Hawkins said: "What Anna endured was truly unimaginable. She died at both your hands, a lonely drawn out death. I pass the only sentence I am entitled to pass, and that is life imprisonment."

He gave Kouao a 10 year concurrent sentence for child cruelty. Manning was given eight years for child cruelty to run concurrently.