A Minnesota mother who extracted her nine-year-old son’s blood to treat his two siblings for non-existent medical conditions was sentenced to 39 years in jail.

Jordan Nicole Borders, 34, was convicted of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of child torture, three counts of stalking, and four counts of theft by false representation in June.

Borders was first suspected of wrongdoing when hospital workers monitoring her son observed a drastic decline in his haemoglobin levels.

She accused the hospital of taking too much blood but her other children – an eight-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy – said they saw their mother often take their brother’s blood.

One of the children said their mother told them to flush their sibling’s blood down the toilet.

The nine-year-old told investigators that his mother kept drawing his blood, which made him feel “sick-sleepy”.

Children forced to wear casts

Investigators found that Borders had diagnosed her two other children as suffering from brittle bone disease.

They were forced to wear casts and neck braces, despite suffering from no injuries

Prosecutors allege the 11-year-old boy was forced to wear casts, made from material which his mother had stolen from a doctor’s office, for two years.

Police officers, searching the family home in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, found syringes and material to make casts.

During the trial the children laid bare the abuse they faced.

They would be made to stand out in the cold with no clothes, denied food and faced regular death threats from their mother.

The nine-year-old told investigators he never felt safe and was forced to sleep on the floor.

He was forced to stay in a wheelchair whenever his father came home, he added.

‘Most heinous crimes’

“Borders’ crimes are some of the most heinous and agonising I have seen in my time as attorney general,” Keith Ellison, Minnesota attorney general said.

He added: “The facts we proved in court are nothing short of horrifying. It strains the imagination and breaks my heart into pieces to think about the torture and anguish — physical, mental, and emotional — that Borders inflicted on her own children.”

Borders received more than $18,000 from the state of Minnesota after lying about her son’s medical condition.

She is also estimated to have been awarded more than $35,000 from non-profit organisations.

Judge Patricia Aanes said Borders had abused her position of trust and acted with “particular cruelty”.