A MOTHER who subjected her daughter to four years of cruelty, including hitting her with a shovel, was jailed yesterday.

Lucinda Smith was jailed for 15 months for systematic assaults and bullying carried out on the orders of controlling boyfriend Peter Jennison.

Father-of-three Jennison, who was convicted in 2004 for an offence of battery against the same girl, will be sentenced next month following psychiatric tests.

Judge Peter Bowers, sitting at Teesside Crown Court, told 36-year-old Jennison: “You have got to expect a prison sentence.”

Sharon Elves, prosecuting, said that five years ago, Jennison was convicted for causing an eye injury to the girl, and on another occasion, pushed her over when she was wearing a plaster cast on her broken leg.

The court heard the girl’s ordeal ended when she ran away to her grandmother’s house, and told her: “I’m scared and my heart is breaking.”

Earlier, a teacher filed a report to school bosses after noticing the ten-year-old appeared to lack self-esteem and was often covered in bruises.

The girl told police that Jennison prodded her in the head when she refused to eat food she did not like, and once made her spend the night in the bathroom.

She said her stepfather would encourage his children to bully her and made her 29- year-old mother hit her with a hairbrush and a shovel.

The court heard the girl was also forced to stay at home alone while the rest of the family went on outings.

When the youngster was questioned by her teacher, she refused to blame her mother because she did not want her to incriminate her.

In a statement, the girl pleaded with the judge not to jail Smith, who now has regular supervised access to her daughter.

Peter Kilgour, for Smith, of College Road, Middlesbrough, said: “It was heavy-handed but there was no serious injury caused. The physical harm will pass.”

Judge Bowers told her: “I have got to bear in mind that the courts have to send out a clear message to parents that the abuse of children is a very serious matter.”

Jennison, of Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, and Smith admitted a charge of cruelty at an earlier hearing.