Child Protection. Freda Briggs

of Jasmine Beckford (1985), Tyra Henry (1987), and Kimberley Carlile (1987), all of whom were under the watch of London social services. For the final months of her life Jasmine Beckford was chained to a bed in a tiny attic. She died from a savage blow that dislodged her brain. The pathologist noted 40 other injuries including 20 broken bones. The childhood histories of both parents made it unlikely that they would have sound parenting skills. Maurice Beckford was left in Jamaica when his parents emigrated to England. He joined them at the age of nine and was clearly unwanted. He slept in a freezing cold out-house and was so badly beaten by both parents that they were prosecuted. He was then sent to a special school where he met Jasmine’s mother. She had been abandoned when she was six-months old.

      Beckford previously came to notice when he was charged with criminally injuring Jasmine’s five-month-old half-sister Louise. He received a suspended sentence and a £250 fine. Three days after Louise was hospitalised, 18-month-old Jasmine was admitted with a broken femur and was detained for six weeks. They were placed in foster care but five months later, a case conference decided that both girls should return to their parents’ care. In July 1984, the mother found Beckford carrying Jasmine’s dead body. She had been dead for some time. The post-mortem findings were seven pages long and revealed an appalling catalogue of abuse. After breaking Jasmine’s leg, Beckford pinned her to a bed with body-building weights to stop movement. When he eventually hit her so hard on the head that she died, he tried to revive her with electric shocks from a piece of flex attached to a plug. When that failed, he refused to call an ambulance. He put her body into his sister-in-law’s car to drive to the hospital²⁴.

      In 1984, 21-month-old Tyra Henry died after being battered by her father while she was officially in the care of the local authority. A report showed that social workers distanced themselves from the parents for cultural reasons. Following substantial media coverage, new guidelines were published for the handling of child abuse cases²⁵. However, in 1984, Heidi Koseda starved to death in a locked room in West London. Another inquiry found that the NSPCC officer assigned to the case failed to investigate reports of abuse and later tried to conceal his negligence with fictitious accounts of visits to the child²⁶.

      In 1986, 4-year-old Kimberley Carlile starved and was beaten to death in Greenwich. Her stepfather, Nigel Hall, received a life-sentence and her mother, a 12-year sentence. The inquiry found that Kimberley’s death was avoidable and key social and health workers failed to apply the necessary skill, judgment and care²⁷.

      In 1987, Doreen Mason died after her mother and boyfriend bruised, burnt and broke the 16-month-old baby’s leg. She slept on the floor where the couple left junk food for her to eat. Importantly, the baby had been on the “at risk” register from birth. A report said her social worker was inexperienced and had no training or supervision²⁸.

      In 1992, Leanne White, aged three, was beaten to death by her stepfather who also made her sleep on the floor. Leanne suffered 107 external injuries and died of internal bleeding and repeated blows to the stomach. An inquiry concluded that her death could have been prevented if social services had responded to reports made by her grandmother and neighbours.

      In 1994, 6-year-old Rikki Neave was found strangled by his coat zipper. His drug-dependent mother was jailed after admitting the abuse of Rikki and two of his three sisters. She hit them, burned them, threw them across the room and locked them outside. Importantly, Neave had pleaded with successive social workers to remove her son, threatening that she would kill him if they didn’t. A report criticised senior social services managers²⁹.

      In 1999, Chelsea Brown, aged two, was battered to death by her father who already had a criminal record for violence against children. The case-worker visited the family 27 times in the 10 weeks preceding her death. She took Chelsea to a paediatrician who said that six out of nine areas of bruising “had no plausible explanation” and one was obviously deliberately inflicted. These findings should have triggered police involvement and a case conference (as required by regulations) but nothing happened³⁰.

      In 2000, 6-year-old Lauren Wright was found dead after being punched and kicked by her stepmother, causing her digestive system to collapse. An inquiry found that inter-agency coordination was “ineffective” and social workers had not acted with “due urgency”³¹.

      In 2002 at Plaidstow, East London, Ainlee Labonte, aged two, was starved and tortured to death. The toddler had 64 scars on her body when she died and weighed only half the normal weight for her age. An inquiry found that health and social workers failed to intervene because they were afraid of the parents³².

      Massive media publicity following the death of 8-year-old Victoria Climbié (2000) led to yet another government inquiry and the greatest changes to child protection policies. Victoria died from hypothermia and 128 injuries after months of horrific abuse. Her great-aunt, Marie Thérèse Kouao, and Ghanian partner, Carl Manning, were jailed for life. Victoria, the fifth of seven children, was sent from Africa’s Ivory Coast to live with her aunt in France for a better chance in life. Victoria travelled to Paris on a false passport in November 1998³³. The abuse began immediately. Her school issued a “child-at-risk notification” and a social worker became involved. Kouao fled to London in April 1999 after she was found to have wrongly claimed £2,000 in child welfare benefits. Over the next two months, she visited Ealing social services fourteen times seeking housing and financial assistance. Staff noticed the child’s injuries but did nothing. Kouao found work as a cleaner leaving Victoria with an unregistered minder. She met bus driver Carl Manning when she boarded his bus and went to live with him in his one-bedroom flat. The abuse of Victoria then increased³⁴.

      On June 18th 1999, a relative reported Victoria’s injuries and said she feared for the girl’s life³⁵. She rang again a few days later, and gained the impression that social services were dealing with the case. They were not³⁶. Three weeks later, social workers visited Victoria’s address, but there was no reply and no further action was taken^37,38. On July 13th 1999, Kouao asked the unregistered carers to accommodate Victoria permanently because Manning did not want her in his flat. When the carers saw her injuries, they took her to hospital. Doctors alerted police and social workers and she was detained under a police protection order. Despite the family history, paediatrician Dr Ruby Schwartz accepted Kouao’s explanation that the child had injured herself while scratching scabies. Schwarz allegedly made the diagnosis without speaking to the child alone³⁹. A ripple effect followed; a junior doctor informed social services that child abuse was not involved⁴⁰, and child protection officer Michelle Hine downgraded Victoria’s level of care⁴¹. Both Schwartz and Hine later told the inquiry that they expected social services to follow up the case although they had given the “all clear” message. Police officer, Rachel Dewar, then allowed Victoria to return home. By law, the police officer was obliged to tell Victoria that she was under police protection, but she failed to interview her or Kouao and Manning⁴². Kouao took Victoria home on July 15th 1999. Nine days later the child was hospitalised with severe scalding to her head and other injuries. There was no evidence of scabies. Consultant Mary Rossiter suspected that Victoria had been abused but recorded “able to discharge” ⁴³. Another doctor said that Victoria was exhibiting signs of neglect, emotional and physical abuse. Rossiter said she expected police and social services to investigate the case and “discharge” did not mean that Victoria must be sent home. Two African social workers were assigned to the case but failed to make a visit because they heard that the child had scabies and were frightened that they might be infected. The inquiry also heard that Police Constable Karen Jones failed to inspect Victoria’s home for fear of catching scabies from furniture. When they eventually met Kouao, workers accepted her explanation that the child’s injuries (including scalds) were self-inflicted⁴⁴.

      From October 1999 to January 2000, Manning forced Victoria to sleep on a garbage bag in the bath in her own excrement. By this time a number of workers were involved, none of whom saw the child. Kouao then took her to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God claiming that she was possessed by the devil. Pastors recognised the abuse but didn’t report it. On February 24th 2000, when Victoria was semi-conscious and suffering from hypothermia, multiple organ failure and malnutrition, the mother caIled a cab to take her back to