The former boss of a children's home who subjected kids to sexual and physical abuse won't go to prison. Malcolm Phillips, 93, was given an absolute discharge at Bradford Crown Court after a trial of facts found he had sexually abused children at Operation Screen in Halifax between 1976 and 1994.

The former care home manager, from Birmingham, was deemed unfit to stand trial due to "various medical conditions" and watched proceedings via video link from his home. His former assistant, Linda Brunning, 67, of Sowerby Bridge, was sentenced to 25 years after being found guilty of indecently assaulting one boy and helping Phillips abuse another during the 1980s and 1990s. The pair were found responsible for a string of attacks on children aged between six and 15 at the Halifax home during proceedings earlier this year. Sentencing the pair, Judge Kirstie Watson described Phillips as a "master manipulator" who had created a culture of fear among vulnerable youngsters. She added: "You were a master manipulator who presented different faces to different people."

Bradford Crown Court heard the judge's only option was to give Phillips an absolute discharge, meaning he will not serve a prison sentence. He was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The court heard Phillips abused four girls and two boys while running Skircoat Lodge, a residential temporary home for children who were the subject of care orders.

Established in the 1970s, the home was allegedly run by Phillips "like a prison", where abuse went "unfettered and unreported".

Children as young as nine were targeted for sexual abuse, while others were denied food and threatened that visits from family would be taken away.

Skircoat Lodge closed in 1995 after West Yorkshire Police launched Operation Screen, an investigation which resulted in Phillips being jailed for seven years for sexual offences including rape and indecent assault.

Campaigners later protested outside Calderdale Council, the authority responsible for the home, calling for the case to be reinvestigated.

A fresh investigation, Operation Henway, was launched in 2017 after more victims campaigned for their experiences to be heard and ultimately led to the convictions and Monday's sentencing hearing.

Several survivors waived their right to anonymity to deliver victim impact statements to the court.

Kelly Lees arrived at Skircoat Lodge as an 11-year-old in 1992. The court heard she was punched in the face by Brunning and sexually abused by Phillips.

Speaking about Phillips, she said: "What I struggle to believe is that my abuser, who lives the life of a free man, will never face any consequences of his actions.

"He should’ve been in court and this should have been my time to stand up to him. I feel he has played the system and is laughing at me."

Ahead of the sentencing hearing, Lees told ITV News: "They called it a children's home. It was a chamber. There were children being abused there on a daily basis."

Another survivor, Karen Bentham, told the court that 13,116 days had passed between her arrival at Skircoat Lodge and Phillips being found responsible for the abuse.

She wore a T-shirt in court bearing the names of people she says died or took their own lives following their time at the home.

Victim Angela Radford told the court she had continued her fight for justice because "she had to think that one day she would be believed".

Following the hearing, survivor Kaz Gray thanked those who had supported victims over the years.

Gray told ITV News: "Thank you to all that supported the survivors over the years."

Skircoat Lodge, which once stood in a leafy suburb of Halifax, has since been demolished.