A Medway pensioner has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty of child cruelty and concealing sexual abuse of children in her care.

June Entecott, 80, from Gleaming Wood Drive, Lordswood, was sentenced on Monday at Southwark Crown Court, after being found guilty in September of one count of cruelty/neglect and two counts of perverting the course of justice.

The former children’s home carer was sentenced alongside former colleague Brenda Ball, 72, from Horsmonden Close, Orpington, who received a five to eight month prison sentence suspended for 12 months, for perverting the course of justice.

Both had been employed as carers at children’s homes in Lambeth between 1960-1990, during which time two vulnerable girls were abused over a 10-year period, from the age of six to around 16, by a third party who has since died.

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police’s homicide and serious crime command received allegations from two victims in November 2012 of historic sex abuse committed before 1998.

Following the initial police investigation Entecott was accused of having concealed the sexual abuse of children in her care when it was committed and of misleading subsequent police investigations.

Ball was accused of having misled previous police investigations in relation to the abuse.

Speaking after the sentencing, DCI Glen Lloyd said: “This case clearly demonstrates that the passage of time does not diminish the possibility of justice.

“These women have been convicted of preventing an alleged abuser of vulnerable youngsters from facing the courts and his accusers.

“I hope that the handing down of their sentences today provides a measure of comfort to the victims who have suffered as a result of their actions.”

A spokesman from the NSPCC said: “This is a truly horrific case, where two adults responsible for protecting these vulnerable young girls, failed them abysmally.

“What’s worse is that it’s taken over four decades of battling for the victims to be taken seriously.

“It’s vitally important that abuse victims come forward and report what has happened so they can get help they may need and abusers can be brought to justice”.