Nigerian parents in the UK,in trouble for scolding their children.

A mother and father who beat their young daughters with phone chargers and a wooden spoon told a judge it was 'acceptable' in their native Nigeria.

The couple have been spared jail despite social workers uncovering the extent of the abuse on the children - who are all aged under eight - and taking them into care for their protection.

Instead the pair, who moved from Nigeria to Northampton, were handed 180 hours of unpaid work each after they admitted three charges of child cruelty at Northampton Crown Court.

A judge heard they regularly hit their three daughters on the arms and legs, locked them in their rooms when they misbehaved and made one kneel with her hands in the air.

The abuse went undiscovered until a routine interview at school between a social worker and the eldest girl, which was arranged because the family had arrived in Britain from another country.

Prosecutor Mary Loram said the girl revealed she was regularly hit on the back with a phone charger wire, and her parents struck her with their hands on her arms and legs,

Judge Lynn Tayton ruled that the punishments dished out by the pair were unreasonable, but their behaviour had not been severe enough for them to be sent to jail.

'You thought you were doing the right thing; something that would happen in Nigeria,' she said.

'You thought it was appropriate chastisement.'

Judge Tayton sentenced the man and woman to a community order including 180 hours of unpaid work.

They were also given a three-month curfew from 7pm to 7am. WOW .