The court is hearing details about the experience of Angela Radford, who lived at the home and has waived her right to anonymity.

Colborn says she ran away from the home numerous times yet "seemingly no one asked why and showed any concern for her safety".

"Police labelled her a liar and said she was trouble."

Colborn tells the court the abuse went unreported "against a backdrop of legitimacy" for two decades before a staff member blew the whistle in the 1990s.

Phillips justified his behaviour "by saying he was preparing boys for worse stuff".

Meanwhile, Brunning was a "large, fearsome character who used her size to overwhelm children" and would sit on them.

She would "humiliate and bully children, shifting from a seemingly kind nature to become violent."

Established in 1976 to provide a "temporary home and place of protection for children who were subject to care orders", Colborn tells the court.

Phillips was placed in charge of the home by Calderdale Council from its opening in 1976.

"With that position came power. He let no one challenge his authority."

He had "unfettered access" to children's rooms. Phillips "used his power to abuse children".

Brunning was employed there from 1978. She was "adept at isolating and manipulating children" and "took pleasure" in abusing those in her care, Colborn says.

"The defendants told the children that no one cared about them and that no one would believe them."

Prosecutor Michelle Colborn KC is recapping the case, which centred on the abuse of six children at a children's home in Halifax between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s.

All but one of the victims were under 16 at the time of the offences, the court hears.

Linda Brunning has been convicted of indecent assault on a 14-year-old boy and of aiding and abetting indecent assault.

Linda Brunning has been produced from custody to be sentenced, having been on remand since February, while Malcolm Phillips is on a video link from home.

Judge Kirstie Watson tells the court she wanted Phillips to attend in person but was presented with medical evidence that he would not be fit to travel.

Three victims are present in court.

Emma Glasbey
Home and Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC Yorkshire

Chris Wild was sent to Skircoat Lodge aged 11 in the 1990s after his father died.

Wild, who was not a victim of sexual abuse, described Skircoat as a "house of horrors" and has campaigned for further investigation.

"I had many friends in there who are not here anymore because they took their own lives," he says.

"There are young people whose lives were destroyed, adults who are suffering with mental health issues and there's never been a public apology."

In February, a jury concluded that Malcolm Phillips had committed rape and indecent assault on girls and boys in his care throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

A total of 17 charges against him were found proven, including seven counts of indecent assault and a further four of rape, against two different victims.

Emma Glasbey
Home and Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC Yorkshire

Karen Bentham was 14 when she became a resident of Skircoat Lodge children's home.

She was staying in a bedroom with other girls, but within months of moving into the home in 1990 she was transferred into a single room, known by residents as "the flat".

That was when Phillips, the home's manager, began sexually abusing her.

"I can't describe the level of fear. Just the sound of somebody walking along the corridor scared you that much, you didn't dare go to sleep," she remembers.

"Every time you heard the key going in the door, the panic and fear was immense."

Image source, SUPPLIED

Bentham says she felt she wanted to waive her lifelong legal right to anonymity after many years of feeling silenced.

"I'm very proud of myself because there was a time when I didn't want to be here anymore. The pain was just too much," she says.

"I'm just so grateful that I'm still here and that I've got the courage now to speak and I don't think I'll ever be silenced again."

Emma Glasbey
Home and Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC Yorkshire

Kelly Lees, who has waived her legal right to anonymity, was a scared and vulnerable 11-year-old when she arrived at Skircoat Lodge in 1993.

"Abuse happened in that place to multiple children daily," she recalls.

"It wasn't only one child each day, it was multiple children daily."

Phillips invited her to complete her homework in his office and then sexually abused her before giving her a lollipop afterwards.

"Malcolm Phillips sexually assaulted me on multiple occasions," she says. "He called me his special girl."

During the trial, Lees told the jury she began missing school, hoping the abuse would stop if she did not have any homework.

"When I'd been there five or six months, I started skiving school, but I was located within an hour," she explains.

"Police located me straight away and brought me back straight away. That place had eyes and ears everywhere."

The court will not sentence them as normal - but instead has the option of making a number of treatment orders, or an absolute discharge.

A number of different medical orders are available to the judge in the place of sentencing, as set out by legislation. These are mainly designed to protect the public.

An individual can be committed to hospital, they can be subject to a guardianship order or they can be subject to a supervision and treatment order.

If none of those are required, the defendant would be absolutely discharged.

This means the defendant committed the offence, but there is no punishment or order of any substance. They are free to go.

The NSPCC charity investigated allegations of abuse at Skircoat Lodge in 1994 and found that excessive force was being used and children were being deprived of food and sleep.

Following the jury's verdicts, an NSPCC spokesperson said Phillips and Brunning had run an "appalling campaign of abuse against children in their care, many of whom had suffered previous trauma".

They said: "The pair worked together to exploit these vulnerable young people and protect each other from police suspicion for almost two decades.

"While Phillips targeted specific children and led the abuse, Brunning's complicity helped silence victims and ensure any young person who tried to seek help was not believed, meaning their crimes went undetected for many years."

The prosecution puts its evidence against the defendant before a judge and jury, in a courtroom, in a similar way to a normal criminal trial.

However, the accused does not play a part in proceedings as such. They do not necessarily even need to be in court.

The accused will be represented by a legal team and their lawyers can question the witnesses, challenge the evidence and make legal submissions on their behalf. Unlike in a criminal trial, the jury is not required to return a verdict of guilty or not guilty.

Instead, they are asked to decide whether or not the accused committed the offence with which they were charged.

The standard of proof remains the same - a jury must be sure beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused committed the acts alleged.

If, based on medical evidence, a court determines that a person is unfit to stand trial, then criminal proceedings cannot go ahead.

Prosecutors, however, have the option to have the matter heard as a "trial of the facts".

This process takes the place of a criminal trial. It is a public hearing to determine whether an accused committed the acts alleged.

It cannot result in a conviction, but if the court is not satisfied that the accused committed the acts alleged, then he/she will be acquitted.

Former care worker Linda Brunning was described in court as a "domineering woman who took pleasure in physically hurting and humiliating children".

The jury agreed she indecently assaulted a boy and also "facilitated the abuse by Malcolm Phillips upon a small, defenceless child".

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

The youngest victim was between nine and 13 years old when he was sexually assaulted by Phillips, with Brunning assisting the abuse by restraining the child.

The prosecution said the boy missed his mother and Brunning had exploited this weakness by telling the child that his mother did not love him.

After her conviction, Brunning burst out crying as she was told she faced a "substantial" jail term.

Phillips, now living in Birmingham, had been in charge of the children's home since it opened in 1976 and his trial heard that he "let no-one challenge his authority".

He lived at Skircoat Lodge and had "unfettered access" to all areas, including the children's bedrooms.

The jury was told that during the course of almost two decades, Phillips abused his power to "isolate specific children to use for his sexual gratification".

The court heard children were chosen carefully as targets and were deprived of food and pocket money and threatened that visits from family would be taken away.

Youngsters would often run away after being sexually abused but were taken straight back to the home by police and accused of being troublemakers.

Phillips, who turned 93 during the trial, was previously convicted in 2001 of indecently assaulting eight girls at Skircoat Lodge in the 1970s and 80s and was sentenced to seven years in jail.

Welcome to our live coverage from Bradford Crown Court, where we will be bringing you updates from a sentencing hearing connected to the sexual abuse of children at a former West Yorkshire care home.

A jury found Malcolm Phillips, 93, carried out the abuse against four girls and two boys at Skircoat Lodge in Halifax between 1976 and 1994.

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

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.

His former assistant, 67-year-old Linda Brunning, was found guilty of indecent assault against one boy and helping Phillips abuse another boy in the 1980s and 1990s. She was told she faced a "substantial" jail term.