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The Victoria Climbie inquiry was interrupted after a woman threw a black substance over a senior policeman giving evidence. He was taken to hospital after some of the substance entered his eye.

When the attack took place, detective chief inspector Philip Wheeler was describing his involvement in the child protection team responsible for investigating Victoria’s case before she died from horrific injuries inflicted by her great aunt and her boyfriend.

The female attacker who swore at Wheeler and shouted “that’s my relative you are talking about”, was immediately arrested. It was unclear who she was or why she attacked the officer, but she was not believed to be a relative of the Climbie family

Wheeler, whose head and face was covered with the substance believed to be ink, said afterwards he did know who the woman was.

Lord Laming, who is chairing the inquiry, said: “I am deeply concerned about what has happened to the witness and the disruption this has caused to this inquiry, but particularly to the witness.” He then adjourned the inquiry until Friday morning.

Wheeler was the line manager for the Haringey child protection team and the detective inspector in charge of that team, David Howard. Howard was the line manager for PC Karen Jones who investigated allegations that Victoria was being abused.

Wheeler told the inquiry his heavy workload prevented him from properly managing the CPT, along with six others.

“I didn’t manage it effectively to the quality I would have liked because of the structure of the role,” he told the inquiry.