Government announces independent statutory inquiry and places Haringey social services under special measures (new version of story).

 

The court decision

The two people accused of killing eight year old Anna Climbie have been convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Marie Kouao and Carl Manning faced charges of cruelty to a child, manslaughter and murder. Manning had admitted cruelty and manslaughter, but denied murder. Kouao denied all the charges.

The jury reached murder verdicts by a majority of 10-2. Kouao was also given a 10-year sentence after a unanimous verdict for child cruelty to run concurrently with the life sentence, and Manning eight years to also run concurrently.

Climbie, who was eight-years-old when she died in February last year, was under the care of Kouao and Manning after being sent by her parents from her native Ivory Coast to live with the couple. Kouao was Climbie's great aunt.

The jury of six men and six women spent more than 18 hours over five days considering their verdicts.

Judge Richard Hawkins said: "What she (Anna) endured is truly unimaginable. She died at both your hands a lonely drawn-out death."

Social services involvement

Police and social services have faced fierce criticism for the way they handled the case. Lisa Arthurworrey, a Haringey social worker, and PC Karen Jones, a north Tottenham child protection worker, were both branded "incompetent" by Linda Stern, the prosecuting barrister.

The government has now launched an independent statutory inquiry to be conducted by Lord Laming, a former chief inspector of social services. The inquiry will report before September this year. Haringey Council's social services has been placed under special measures, a move which follows a critical inspection of children's services last year.

Haringey Council has announced its own internal inquiry into the way its social services department handled the case, which will be done by an experienced independent child protection specialist. Lisa Arthurworrey had already been suspended, but further disciplinary action against her or four other members of staff who have been identified, will not be taken until the internal inquiry has concluded.

Alan Milburn, health secretary, said: "She (Anna) was murdered by her 'carers', but was undoubtedly failed repeatedly by the child protection system.

"An inspection of children's services in Haringey local authority was completed in June 2000. This raised significant concerns about the quality of these services," he said.

"As a consequence the local authority was issued with a warning with an expectation of immediate and urgent improvement. I am now placing Haringey social services on special measures."

Anne Bristow, director of housing and social services for Haringey, said: "We are appalled by this tragedy which we should have been able to prevent. The system failed Anna and we are part of that system.

"As the lead child protection agency in Haringey, we should have acted to protect this child and we accept responsibility for our failure," she said.

Initial findings from an independent report commissioned by Haringey area child protection committee found that the council's policies and procedures were sound, but that they were not followed.

The government inquiry will involve Haringey, as well as Ealing, Brent, and Enfield Councils.

Eight officers from the child protection teams involved in the case have been served with disciplinary papers, and one of them has been suspended.

The case

The case has shocked everyone connected with it, after it was revealed that Climbie was tortured and left to die from hypothermia and starvation. She had been fed like a dog, and her body was covered with 128 separate injuries.

She was repeatedly hit with belts and bicycle chains, and admitted to hospital with her injuries.

She was left to waste away in a bath and wrapped in a bin liner throughout the winter. She was burnt with cigarettes and her legs bound with masking tape so tightly she became deformed.

Kouao had smuggled Climbie into Britain from France where was using the child in a benefit scam, which she then tried to carry out here.