A father who let his children live in a “pigsty” while he smoked cannabis and played video games has been jailed.

Conditions in the house were so bad they “make the flesh creep”, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told York Crown Court.

Nathan Davis, prosecuting, said there were no proper beds for the two children, the house stank of faeces, there was cat excrement in different rooms, the bathroom lacked washing items and everywhere was cluttered and dirty.

The father, who has a previous conviction for producing cannabis, had a cannabis plant in the wardrobe in his bedroom.

The children’s clothes, apart from their school clothes, were only washed every fortnight.

“The house that you lived in with these two children was a pigsty, worse even than a pigsty,” the judge told the father.

“The photographs (of the house) are physically revolting.

"These children had to live in these conditions that make the flesh creep to look at them. You were sitting there with your cannabis and your video games while the children had to go to their mother to get washed. It was a disgrace.”

The father, of York, pleaded guilty to two charges of child neglect and was jailed for eight months. He is not being named to protect the children’s identity.

“Only an immediate prison sentence for causing two children to live in squalor is appropriate,” the judge said.

Mr Davis said the father was the sole carer for the youngsters and staff at the children's school were concerned because they attended school in an untidy state and unclean clothes.

One day, one of the children, physically upset, told staff they didn’t want to go home as their father had smoked cannabis that day. Staff contacted the authorities and police went to the house.

The father was arrested and the children now live with their mother and are doing well, said Mr Davis.

David Godfrey, defending, said the Family Court had placed the children in the father’s care.

The father accepted the way he had carried out his responsibilities towards the children was insufficient, that the state of the children’s bedrooms was disgraceful and that he had put the children in a “difficult situation”.

He had been struggling financially which had caused problems for him in furnishing the house.

The father was seeing a doctor for mental health issues including ADHD and found it difficult to focus and concentrate.

He had had no contact with his children since his arrest and that was causing him “real distress”, said Mr Godfrey.

However, he was young enough to rebuild his life, the court heard.