A "Jekyll and Hyde" father who was found guilty of a string of cruelty charges against his children has been jailed for five years.

Terrence Eames was handed the sentence after he was convicted last month of 16 counts of child cruelty.

They included locking his children in a room for long periods, hitting them round the head, dangling one over a staircase by his ankles and holding his son's hand on a hot radiator.

During the two-week trial at Leicester Crown Court, Eames denied 26 offences of child cruelty and two counts of actual bodily harm on his ex-wife.

The offences all happened between 1987 and 2000, when the family lived at different addresses in north west Leicestershire.

The 53-year-old, now of Woodville Road, Hartshorne, near Ashby, was found guilty of 16 counts of child cruelty and cleared of 10 counts and two assaults on his ex-wife.

Sentencing him yesterday at Derby Crown Court, Judge Michael Fowler told him: "It's clear that you did get satisfaction from controlling your family and the consequence of that was that they were effectively imprisoned.

"For years, they were confined without adequate entertainment at times, without adequate food, without adequate sanitation."

He added: "The circumstances in which these children, young as they were at that time, were confined must have been horrific."

Judge Fowler said the children painted a picture of "abject pity", deprived of the chance to enjoy their childhood.

Prosecutor David Lee said the children were locked in their rooms at the three different family homes.

The court heard that Eames also hit his children round the head, on one occasion breaking his daughter's tooth.

He also dangled one son over a banister by his ankles when he was just five, and held his hand on a hot radiator when he was seven.

His other son was hit round both sides of the head to fix his "boss eyes", Mr Lee said.

Judge Fowler said his actions demonstrated "an element of sadism".

He said although Eames was cleared of assaulting his former wife, it was clear she was unable to protect her children.

He told Eames, who remained emotionless throughout the hearing: "I am sure you like to think of yourself as a hard man brought up in a hard world.

"I'm sure that you are, in fact, a damaged man but you are also cruel, mean-spirited, and in your dealings with your children, weak and cowardly."

He sentenced Eames to five years in prison, and disqualified him from working with children for life.

In mitigation, Simon Thomas, representing Eames, said locking the children in rooms was often in response to something.

He said: "There is in this case, in my submission, an element of deeply inadequate parenting brought on by where this defendant comes from and what his background is.

"Someone who is clearly not going to have any particular role models on who to base his behaviour."