An assistant nurse at UCLA Medical Center , Los Angeles , who tortured her adoptive children with a hammer in a spate of sickening attacks , has been sentenced to seven years to life in prison . The court heard that Ingrid Brewer , 53 , of Palmdale , California , became increasingly sadistic , binding the children 's hands with zip-ties and viciously beating them with electrical cords and a hammer . The seven-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy , who were found in the street in freezing temperatures after running away , testified that they were locked into separate bedrooms when Brewer went to work each day , were deprived of food and forced to use wastebaskets for a lavatory . Twisted : Ingrid Brewer , 53 ( left ) , was found guilty of two counts of torture after she subjected her two small , adopted children to a sequence of horrific attacks with electrical cables , pipes and a hammer . She also deprived them of food and locked them in their room at her Palmdale home ( right ) while she went to work . Brewer was initially a foster mother to the children , but she then adopted them . Her conviction has raised questions about the standards applied to vetting prospective adoptive parents in the state . The LA Times reported that after Brewer ’ s arrest , it emerged that she had a history of child abuse investigations going back to 2001 , when the county 's child abuse hotline received a tip-off that she was abusing her biological children . However , social workers decided to take no further action . At the time of the adoption , Brewer 's file contained at least nine investigations of alleged abuse over the previous 12 years , according to the LA Times . Both the boy and the girl were home-schooled by their reclusive adoptive mother in the middle-class suburb of Palmdale . Neighbours reported that Brewer was aloof and unfriendly , and one was not even aware that she had children . It was only due to the bravery of the eight-year-old boy that the torture came to light . ‘ The brother was the one that managed to get himself out of his bedroom , ’ Sgt . Brian Hudson of Los Angeles County 's Special Victims Bureau told MyFoxLA after the children escaped in January 2013 . ‘ He managed to get his sister out of her bedroom and told her , “ It 's time to go , we 've got to get out of this house. ” . The children , he said , who were 'tired of being tied up and beaten ' , escaped without their coats in freezing temperatures , and hid several blocks away . When Brewer became aware of the disappearance she called the police , who launched a search of the area . The children were found hours later , huddled under a blanket in the street in the bitter cold . They told officers about the torture they were suffering , and Brewer - who told detectives that one of the reasons she was locking the children up was because they had been stealing food - was arrested . Investigators said marks and injuries on the victims ’ bodies were consistent with the abuse they described . The children were also apparently malnourished . In December , Brewer pleaded no contest to two counts of torture , according to the Los Angeles County district attorney ’ s office . Brewer has been sentenced to seven years to life . She will be eligible for parole after seven years but may spend the rest of her life in prison .
Californian Ingrid Brewer , 53 , found guilty of horrific abuse of a seven-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy . The abuse only came to light due to the bravery of the boy , who led his younger sister out of the house in freezing temperatures . The case raises questions about adoption procedures , as it emerged that Brewer 's file contained two investigations of alleged abuse . Brewer , of Palmdale , LA , could be granted parole in seven years ' time .