Cruelty case 'must lead to change in protection policy'

The inquiry into the death of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie should mark a "turning point" that results in proper protection for vulnerable and abused children in Britain, the chairman said yesterday.

Opening the inquiry into one of the worst cases of child abuse in this country, Lord Laming said the "appalling mistreatment" suffered by the girl must bring about enduring change to child protection procedures.

Victoria died last year while in the care of her father's aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, 45, and her partner, Carl Manning, 28. They were able to inflict horrendous injuries despite the repeated involvement of social services, the police and doctors.

Lord Laming, a former chief inspector of social services, said the nation had been shocked by details of the cruelty that emerged when Kouao and Manning were jailed for life for Victoria's murder in January. "This inquiry is an indication of the commitment, especially by government ministers, that what happened to Victoria will be an enduring turning point in securing proper protection of children in this country," he said.

Describing the circumstances leading to Victoria's death, Neil Garnham QC, counsel to the inquiry, said she was failed by the complacency, slack procedures and readiness to defer responsibility shown by social workers, police and medical staff. "Victoria's death was not simply an isolated act of madness by two sickened individuals. Her ill treatment was prolonged. It was not hidden away, out of sight of the authorities. The signs were there. They were on display time and time again. But they went unheeded," Mr Garnham said.

In chilling detail, he outlined how Victoria died "a miserable and lonely death" after being "imprisoned, beaten and starved" for months on end by Kouao and Manning in a flat in Tottenham, north London.

The pair kept her in the bath, naked and tied up with masking tape in bin bags, after she had developed double incontinence. At times she was "left trussed up in the plastic bag in the bath all day and all night" and had to lie in her own waste. "What must have gone through the mind of this little girl is unimaginable. Here she was, in a foreign country in mid- winter.

"She was abandoned for hours on end, naked and tied up in a rubbish bag, lying in a bath in an unlit, unheated room."

The couple, who referred to Victoria as "Satan", made her eat like a dog from a plastic plate. "To say that Kouao and Manning treated Victoria like a dog would be wholly unfair: she was treated worse than any dog," Mr Garnham said.

Kouao would strike Victoria almost every day with a shoe, coat hanger, cooking implement or hammer. Victoria's blood was found on Manning's football boots and he even hit her with a bicycle chain, Mr Garnham said.

When she arrived at St Mary's hospital in Paddington, London, the day before she died, her body temperature had fallen so far that the hospital did not have a thermometer capable of reading it, he said. The post-mortem examination found 128 injuries to her body and the pathologist said it was the worst case of child abuse he had seen.

But Kouao and Victoria had been known to Ealing, Brent and Haringey social services and the child had been admitted to two London hospitals with obvious signs of non-accidental injury. During one hospital admission, she was even taken into police protection but was removed without any attempt by officers to interview Kouao or see Victoria, Mr Garnham said.

Race was assumed to play no part in the case because a black child was murdered by black relatives. But Mr Garnham said this could well be wrong. Fear of being accused of racism could stop people acting and affect their assumptions.

"It seems to us that it may be possible that race played such a part in the present case. At this stage we will do no more than urge you to be alive to that possibility," he said.

Mr Garnham criticised Ealing social workers for concentrating on Kouao's demands for housing and benefits. When Brent received an anonymous tip-off about Victoria's welfare, a "cursory" home visit was made three weeks later and management of the case appeared to have been "extremely lax".

On one hospital visit, Victoria's injuries were attributed to scabies and a registrar recorded "no child protection issues".

After a second admission to hospital, with severe burns, nurses had voiced strong suspicions of abuse and neglect. However, the hospital social workers made no attempt to see Victoria, and she was eventually discharged with the approval of a consultant paediatrician, an external social worker and the police.