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Karen Bentham said: "Obviously there is a bit of disappointment with the absolute discharge but I think by listening to our victim impact statements he has been made to take some accountability."

Karen Bentham, who was sexually abused by Phillips as a 14-year-old in the 1990s, said she was frustrated that Phillips did not have to attend court for the trial of facts and hear the evidence of his victims.

"It's disappointing because he's never been forced to take accountability for what he's done.

"He's never had to sit in the courtroom throughout the trial and listen to the damage that he's done to children."

Bentham said the verdicts had finally brought her some relief after 30 years of living with the trauma of the abuse.

"As a child, you learn that silence is the best so you carry that and then it becomes shameful," she said.

"It's been with me all my life but now I do feel like I can breathe."

Kelly Lees, who was sexually abused by Malcolm Phillips when she lived at Skircoat Lodge from the age of 11, said she was "furious" that Phillips would not face prison after being deemed unfit for trial.

"I was a child and vulnerable. He abused so many on a daily basis," she said.

"I feel sad that I've had to fight for so many years, I feel sad that I was isolated and I'm angry because I haven't had a proper childhood, of course I'm angry."

Speaking outside court, she said she did "not agree with the absolute discharge", adding: "I’m absolutely disgusted."

Speaking after sentencing, Det Ch Insp Claire Smith of West Yorkshire Police says: “Today’s outcome cannot undo the harm suffered by those children at Skircoat Lodge, but it does represent long overdue accountability.

"The bravery shown by the survivors in coming forward after so many years has been extraordinary, and we hope this brings some measure of acknowledgement and closure.

“We would encourage anyone who has suffered child abuse and exploitation to come forward and report it to us.

"No matter the length of time passed, you will be listened to and believed.

"There are also support services out there, that are on hand to support you when you are ready, if you don’t wish to contact police straight away.”

• Former children's home manager Malcolm Phillips, 93, who sexually abused children in his care for decades, is given an absolute discharge
• At Bradford Crown Court, Judge Kirstie Watson says she had "no choice", with a discharge the only option
• Phillips also receives a sexual harm prevention order
• His former assistant Linda Brunning is jailed for 25 years
• The 67-year-old was found guilty of indecent assault against one boy and helping Phillips abuse another boy in the 1980s and 1990s
• Judge Watson says Phillips was a "master manipulator who presented different faces to different people" as he carried out "vile abuse"
• Judge Watson says the victims "have been heard and they have been believed"

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

Linda Brunning, who was found guilty of indecent assault against one boy and helping Malcolm Phillips abuse another boy in the 1980s and 1990s, is jailed for 25 years.

She is told she will serve her sentences concurrently, and must serve two thirds of her jail term before she will be considered for release.

The victims have been embracing each other, with some of them in tears, after Brunning is taken into custody.

Judge Watson says some people may wonder whether there was any point in going through a trial, given Malcolm Phillips was deemed unfit at the outset.

"There is a point," she says.

"Forty years ago the victims of these terrible crimes were vulnerable children who were silenced by fear, shame and by the knowledge that speaking out would make no difference.

"They all had to live with that for 40 years. This trial process has given them a voice.

"[The trial] has allowed them to speak, they have been listened to, they have been challenged - because that's part of the adversarial process - but in doing so they have been given the opportunity to respond to that challenge.

"They have been heard and they have been believed. No one sitting in this court today can be in any doubt of the value of that to the victims."

Judge Kirstie Watson says she had three options available; a hospital order, a supervision order and an absolute discharge.

The first two were deemed inappropriate, she says.

"The only option is to impose an absolute discharge.

"I do that with great reluctance given the seriousness of the offences you have been found to have committed, but I have no choice."

According to the Sentencing Council, external, which issues guidelines on sentencing, an absolute discharge means that "the court has decided not to impose a punishment because the experience of going to court has been punishment enough".

She imposes a sexual harm prevention order, which she says is "necessary and proportionate to prevent you from carrying out further sexual offences".

Malcolm Phillips has been given an absolute discharge and a sexual harm prevention order.

Judge Kirstie Watson is now summing up.

She addresses Phillips, calling him a "master manipulator"

"You set the tone in Skircoat Lodge, you were the dominant force and cultivated a culture of fear among the young and extremely vulnerable children in your care.

"You were a master manipulator who presented different faces to different people."

Watson says together with Brunning he committed "vile abuse" against children.

In response to some of the mitigation heard about Linda Brunning, prosecutor Michelle Colborn KC says the defendant did not "at any stage" in the trial say that she had been groomed or that she was fearful of Malcolm Phillips.

"She had nothing bad to say [about him]."

Colborn says there is evidence Brunning chased a boy from the garden and "had to be pulled away from doing anything to him".

Judge Kirstie Watson has now retired to consider the outcome before sentencing Brunning and ruling on what punishment, if any, Phillips should face.

Colley says Malcolm Phillips had already begun abusing children before Linda Brunning arrived at Skircoat Lodge in 1978, aged 19.

"It was a feature of her evidence that she herself, as a member of staff, felt she had been groomed by him.

"She was effectively in awe of him."

Colley previously said Phillips was a "very dominant person who ruled by fear and who intimidated residents and staff alike".

Colley tells the court the restraints used by Brunning, which included sitting on children, were part of approved practices at the time and had been used at other children's homes.

"Effectively, Linda Brunning was carrying out a procedure [...] that was used by many as an approved method."

She says some of Brunning's behaviour should be "placed into context".

Colley says the absence of offending for her client "over a long period of time", together with her "good character", act as "significant mitigation".

She tells the court Brunning went on to work with vulnerable adults after she was taken out of Skircoat Lodge in 1994 when Phillips was investigated, with no complaints about her behaviour in that role.

Two "thorough" investigations after then produced no prosecutions, she adds.

The court is now hearing from Kitty Colley, who represents Linda Brunning.

Her client, who has no previous convictions, denied all the charges against her during her trial, but "respects those verdicts", Colley says.

Brunning was found guilty of indecent assault against one boy and helping Malcolm Phillips abuse another boy in the 1980s and 1990s.

Bradford Crown Court earlier heard from victims who described Skircoat Lodge as a "horrible, cruel environment" where they were "subjected to torture, harm, degradation and trauma".

One said: "I was constantly told: 'Nobody cares, nobody loves you, you are worthless'."

Three victims waived their legal right to anonymity to share their experiences.

Angela Radford said she could "still hear the screams today", adding: "The stigma of being called a liar has stayed with me throughout my life."

Karen Bentham said she wanted to speak out "so others would see they are not alone".

Meanwhile Kelly Lees told the court she was "disrespected and denied the opportunity of bringing the perpetrators to justice".

She said police and social services "blamed each other for not taking my honest account seriously".

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

Malcolm Phillips' abuse took place at Skircoat Lodge in Halifax between 1976 and 1994.

A judge will decide the punishment this afternoon for Skircoat Lodge children's home manager Malcolm Phillips, 93, who sexually abused youngsters in his care for decades.

Phillips abused four girls and two boys at the home in Halifax between 1976 and 1994. He was deemed unfit to stand trial and a trial of facts was held on charges of rape, indecent assault and indecency with a child.

Gillian Batts KC, representing Phillips, told Bradford Crown Court both the defence and prosecution were in agreement that he was not fit to stand trial due to "various medical conditions".

She said the "only available disposal" in the case was an absolute discharge.

His former assistant Linda Brunning, 67, will be sentenced after she was found guilty of indecent assault against one boy and helping Phillips abuse another boy.

Batts says Phillips, who turned 93 in January, is now "extremely highly reliant on his wife".

"The risk of him having any unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16 [...] is negligible, if not non-existent," she says.

Colborn, who is prosecuting the case, says Phillips' risk of harm "is one that still exists".

The judge has risen to allow the court to break for lunch. Proceedings will resume at 14:15 BST.