Sentencing two London parents, Judge Thomas Heeney told the court: “The facts of this case were the most egregious I have come across in my 26 years on the bench.”

This after a mother and father, both in their 50s, who cannot be identified, were found guilty of a total of 33 criminal charges, including incest, sexual assault, unlawful detention and soliciting sexual contact.

The victims were four of their own children and the abuse began as early as 2002 when some of them were just toddlers and ended in 2020 when they were teenagers.

During the lengthy trial last spring, the court heard horrific details of how the children were forced to have sex, beaten, tied up, locked up and punished with hot sauce.

Judge Heeney said: “If they vomited after swallowing the tabasco sauce and soap, they were forced to eat their own vomit.”

He continued that for years, “To the outside world, this family appeared to be a happy household, but behind closed doors, it was a different story.”

He added: “For these four victims it was a house of horrors, they were subjected to years of continuous sexual and psychological abuse by their parents.”

Of the children, Judge Heeney said: “They suffered pain, domination and humiliation, the treatment bordering on the sadistic.”

He said both parents were equally responsible, with her convicted of 18 counts and the father convicted of 15. In the end, the judge sentenced her to a total of 17 years and five months in prison, and him at 16 years and 241 days behind bars. .

He received enhanced credit for time already served at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center. The court was told he suffered during the legal process, with Judge Heeney saying: “He was seriously assaulted by other inmates on four occasions.”

As the sentences were handed down, the mother began to cry in the courtroom and hugged her lawyer while the father showed little or no emotion.

After being led away, the mother was heard to be applying for bail pending an appeal against her conviction.