AN Evesham mother failed to protect her children from violent discipline by her new boyfriend.

Her two sons, aged 11 and eight, were punched for being naughty and made to run up and down the garden in their pyjamas, Worcester Crown Court heard.

On son was also hit with a belt and all three children were "abandoned" by being left with a neighbour while the couple went off for a seaside break, said prosecutor Jane Sarginson.

The mother - who was going through a divorce - admitted to police she occasionaly smacked the children and threatened them with a belt and stick, but did not use the implements on them.

Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins said the 33-year-old woman, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the victims, knew of the "inappropriate disciplining" by her boyfriend but failed to protect her children.

She had put her relationship "before the needs of her children and paid a dreadful price".

The two boys and a girl were now living with their father and there had been no contact with their mother for 12 months.

The judge said the boyfriend, who also cannot be named, had "a mistaken approach to discipline rather than the desire to be cruel" and that small boys demanded skills he did not possess.

The 25-year-old boyfriend was sentenced to 50 weeks jail, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work.

The mother was given a two-year community order with 100 hours of work.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to child neglect.

Miss Sarginson said the mother formed a relationship with her lodger but her brother became suspicious after seeing bruises on the 11-year-old's shins and arms.

In May this year a neighbour rang police to reveal the couple had left the children with another neighbour while they went off to Newquay, Cornwall.

One boy claimed he had been punched 10 times and a neighbour who witnessed the boys being made to run up and down the garden said one boy was sick and in tears.

Abigail Nixon, for the mother, said the former youth worker had been at a vulnerable stage in her life and left discipline to her boyfriend, whom she was infatuated with.

Richard Bond, for the boyfriend, said he had been subjected to harsh treatment as a child himself.