Parents jailed for cruelty towards baby on protection register

A West Yorkshire couple were jailed yesterday for leaving their baby daughter severely disabled through cruelty and abuse, while she was on Calderdale Council’s child protection register.

Rizwan Patel, 27, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for committing child cruelty grievous bodily harm against his daughter, while his girlfriend, Alliah Bradshaw, received a three-year sentence for child cruelty.

Girl on child protection register

The couple, from Hebden Bridge, admitted the offences, which took place in 2007 when the baby girl was on Calderdale’s at risk register.

Calderdale Safeguarding Children Board has commissioned a serious case review, which is due to be published in the early autumn.

Paul Brennan, Calderdale’s acting group director, children and young people, said: “This is an extremely sad case, where some two years ago a child suffered dreadful injuries at the hands of parents.”

Ignored medical advice

He said Patel and Bradshaw did not co-operate with professionals trying to support them and ignored medical advice related to the care of their daughter, who is now in foster care.

Brennan added: “As a result, this child has been left with severe disabilities.”

The sentences come two months after Calderdale’s children’s services were criticised in serious case reviews into the deaths from natural causes of two children in late 2007.

Decline in safeguarding performance

The council’s rating for safeguarding in Ofsted’s annual performance assessments fell from good to adequate from 2007-8.

Brennan added: “Since the awful events here in 2007, and the tragic cases like Baby P, Calderdale and its partners are working hard to bring our services up to the highest standards.”

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