A MUM, dad and their four children were living in squalor in their Hampshire home, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Sean and Rachell Rawles' house was littered with rubbish, uneaten food and vomit.

Doors and banisters on the stairs were broken.

The full extent of the terrible conditions were only revealed when police were called to their home to deal with a drunken row.

There, officers found Mrs Rawles, who had been drinking wine despite being 16 weeks pregnant, holding a kitchen knife to her seven-year-old daughter Ellie’s throat.

They were forced to spray CS gas in the mum’s face to free the girl.

Now, the couple are trying to regain custody of their children, Southampton Crown Court heard.

Rebecca Austin, prosecuting, said police were called to the house in Haydock Close, Totton, at 11.30pm on June 6 last year by someone who heard the couple arguing.

“The scene was manic with four children screaming,” Miss Austin said.

“The policeman had never seen a child as distressed as the seven-year-old girl was before.”

Miss Austin said there was vomit on the floor “and the banister was almost totally demolished so a child could fall from the top of the stairs.

“The bedrooms had lots of uneaten food around and the house presented a danger to the children living there.”

The court heard that social services had visited three times. They found the house “untidy” but not at a level amounting to neglect.

The 32-year-old mum told police she had been drinking and did not remember grabbing the knife.

Her 33-year-old husband admitted obstructing an officer after he hid the knife in the freezer.

The couple both admitted a charge of child cruelty with the mum, who has since given birth to a fifth child, also admitting wilful assault of her child.

She was given a 50-week jail sentence suspended for two years and told to attend a woman’s project with alcohol intervention work.

Her husband was given a two-year community order with supervision and told to attend a domestic abuse programme and sessions to develop employment skills. He was also given an 8pm to 6am curfew lasting 28 days.

Judge Peter Ralls said: “Police found the premises in a squalid and unacceptable state.”

He told Mrs Rawles: “You lost control and got a kitchen knife with which you were threatening Mr Rawles and presumably as you thought it would keep police away, you turned the knife to the throat of your child.”

Judge Ralls lifted a reporting ban on the case after a application by the Daily Echo.

He said: "It's something the public have a right to know about so in the circumstances I can lift the order."