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The Tottenham child and family centre practice manager who was allocated Victoria Climbie's case, was forced to deny accusations that she had tampered with evidence, writes Katie Leason.

Sylvia Henry disputed claims from Neil Sheldon, counsel to the inquiry, that she could have added details to the centre's notes after hearing that Victoria had died, and realising that a referral had been made to the centre which nothing had been done about.

Victoria was referred to the centre on 5 August 1999 and was allocated to Henry on 13 August. Henry made a record to close the case after a phonecall to Barry Almeida, which she claims to have made 'promptly' during which she was told that the family had moved out of the borough. However the record was not dated or signed.

Sheldon suggested that there appeared to be three other possibilities relating to Henry's treatment of the case. Firstly that she didn't make a phonecall to Barry Almeida until after December 1999 when the council first suspected Victoria may have left the area; secondly that she made the call and was given the wrong information, or thirdly that the note on the contact sheet did not accurately reflect what she was told.

Henry said the family centres became "dumping grounds" receiving inappropriate referrals.

Earlier in the day, fellow practice manager Ernell Watson described the centre as overburdened often exceeding the one third quota for child protection cases. Timescales for dealing with cases were not met, and referrals were often sent without key information or proper assessment, she said.