A FOSTER mother who carried out a decade-long catalogue of abuse against children in her care has avoided jail.

Ruth Johnston, 62, who fostered youngsters for 11 years, beat children as young as two while treating her own young children much better.

Johnston forced one girl to lick a dirty carpet and left her so hungry she had to eat from bins.

During her trial at Paisley Sheriff Court it emerged she hit youngsters with a slipper, pinched them until they bled, dragged them by the hair, force-fed them, put them into freezing showers and forced them to sit outside in the freezing garden for hours on end.

She also rubbed a little girl's soiled bed sheets in her face, made another run up and down the street in her nightdress and confiscated any sweets given to the foster children and gave them to her own youngsters.

As Sheriff James Spy found her guilty, he said the conditions the children had described in her home in her Paisley home "would match a Dickensian description of life for deprived Victorian children".

Sentence on Johnston had been deferred so social workers could compile a report on what punishment would benefit both her and the community the most.

Johnston claimed in court she was a deeply religious individual who was only trying to do her best for the children she took into care over almost 13 years of fostering.

Louise Arrol, defending, said jailing Johnston, who walks with a crutch, would affect her husband Gordon, a former church elder, who suffers from type-1 diabetes.

At an earlier court hearing Gordon, 63, who was charged alongside his wife, suffered from a diabetic episode and proceedings had to be adjourned for a short while for it to pass.

Charges that he assaulted three children were found not proven.

Johnston was portrayed as the worst offender and faced a catalogue of seven charges against her, involving assault and wilful ill-treatment.

Sentencing, the sheriff let Ruth Johnston walk free from court.

He said the amount of time he could give her behind bars was "severely limited" by the historic nature of the offences, dating from the 1990s, and the fact it was prosecuted at summary level – which only allows for a 12-month prison term.

Rather than jailing Johnston he placed her on probation and ordered her to carry out unpaid work.

Young people who brought the accusations against the couple had to re-live their nightmare experiences in adulthood while giving evidence.

One of those in Johnston's care from the age of two to eight-years- old, fostered as her parents were both drug addicts, came close to tears as she recalled some of the beatings she received and spoke about other episodes which left her feeling "cold, alone and guilt-ridden".

One of her victims burst into tears as Johnston left the dock and walked free from court.

Now 19-years-old and a mother herself, she said: "They were bullies – they battered us all the time for no reason and thought it was funny."

The sheriff is to monitor Johnston's progress and has ordered her to return to court on October 9 for the first of a series of reviews which will take place.