Mr and Mrs Milne and their four children lived in a council-owned house in Vincent Crescent, Balsall Heath. Apart from the poor state of the property – no bathroom, no hot water, outside lavatory, inside walls running with damp – these children were sleeping, in the middle of winter, on two sodden seat cushions covered by a couple of old macs. There was no heating in the room, the snow lay thick outside and the windows were broken
