Baby and toddler ‘stabbed to death’

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2 responses to “Baby and toddler ‘stabbed to death’”

1. 

   November 13, 2008

   Tolga Cakir

   Pressure grows on child protection boss

   Pressure is growing on the head of children’s services at Haringey Council to step down after the horrific death of a 17-month-old child from abuse.

   Sharon Shoesmith is facing calls to resign over the death of Baby P in a blood-spattered cot in August last year after spending much of his short life being used as a punchbag.

   Children’s Secretary Ed Balls has ordered an urgent inquiry by Ofsted, the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection and the Chief Inspector of Constabulary into services in Haringey after receiving a report detailing a string of failings involved in the case.

   Mr Balls said the review – due to make an initial report by December 1 – would involve a “thorough inspection” of all services responsible for safeguarding children in Haringey.

   “The case of Baby P is tragic and appalling,” he said. “It is our duty to take whatever action is needed to ensure that such a tragedy doesn’t happen again, that lessons are learned and that children in Haringey are safe.”

   The toddler’s mother’s 32-year-old boyfriend and another man, Jason Owen, 36, were convicted at the Old Bailey on Tuesday of causing or allowing his death. The mother admitted the same charges at an earlier hearing.

   The court heard that social workers, police and health professionals failed to save him despite 60 visits over eight months, during which he suffered more than 50 injuries.

   The mother and the two men have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on December 15.

   The death of Baby P comes as a heavy blow to Haringey, which was severely criticised following the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie in 2000.

   Lord Laming, whose inquiry into the Climbie case called for major reforms of the child protection system, has already been asked to carry out a nationwide review of services following the Baby P case.

   An independent Serious Case Review commissioned by Haringey was handed to Mr Balls following the conclusion of the trial.

   He said it showed evidence that agencies in Haringey “singly and collectively failed to adhere to the procedures for the proper management of child protection cases”.

   The director of children’s services in Hampshire, John Coughlan, has been drafted in immediately to work alongside his counterpart in Haringey to ensure proper procedures for safeguarding children are in place and are properly applied while the inquiry is taking place.

   ITN
2. 

   November 13, 2008

   Tolga Cakir

   ‘Shannon Drugged And Tied Up’

   Schoolgirl Shannon Matthews was drugged and tied to a roof beam after her mother hatched a £50,000 fake kidnap scam, a court has heard.

   The girl was locked in a flat for 24 days by Michael Donovan, who police believe used a strap with a noose to tether her when he went out, jurors were told.

   Prosecutors at Leeds Crown Court said Donovan drugged the nine-year-old with Temazepam and travel sickness tablets and gave her a list of “rules”.

   The rules, written on a note on top of a television, included: :: You must not go near the windows. :: You must not make any noise and bang your feet. :: You must not do anything without me being there.

   All the time Shannon’s mother, Karen Matthews, kept up a “wicked and dishonest lie”, it was claimed.

   She knew where her daughter was as police conducted a massive search operation which eventually cost almost £3.2m, the jury was told.

   Matthews, 33, and Donovan, 40, both deny kidnapping Shannon, who is now 10, and falsely imprisoning her. They also deny perverting the course of justice.

   Julian Goose QC told the court the pair hatched the plan to kidnap Shannon in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in February, to get hold of reward money that was offered by a newspaper.

   He said Donovan kept Shannon “drugged, subdued and hidden from the public” and bought newspapers which described the extent of the investigation.

   The court heard how Shannon went missing on February 19 after a swimming trip at school.

   The jury was told that Donovan tricked Shannon into getting into his car as she walked home, saying they were going to the fair.

   Mr Goose said Matthews reported her daughter missing and began “acting out an elaborate and cruel lie”.

   Meanwhile, Donovan kept Shannon prisoner at his first-floor flat in Lidgate Gardens, Batley Carr – a mile from Shannon’s home in Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor.

   The prosecutors told the jury it was a “reasonable inference” that Donovan used a strap found tied to a roof beam to restrain Shannon when he left the flat to go shopping.

   The strap was discovered “knotted on to the roof beam”, as officers conducted a detailed search of the flat following Shannon’s discovery.

   The case continues.

   ITN