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Underspending on children's services in Brent did not contribute specifically to the failures in the handling of Victoria's case, according to the council's solicitor.

The mishandling of Victoria's case was attributed by Brent's solicitor Joy Akoye to a series of professional misjudgements made by a number of individuals, leading to "serious shortcomings" in the service that Brent had provided for Victoria.

Suspended intake and duty manager Edward Armstrong, who had said he had never received a referral on 18 June from the council's one-stop-shop which detailed cuts and bruises on Victoria, was singled out for criticism.

Akoye said: "The borough simply cannot accept Mr Armstrong's evidence that he neither received nor processed the 18 June referral but dealt instead with a significantly less serious one dated 21 June from a member of his team he cannot recall and a source he cannot recall."

Akoye also defended Brent against criticisms by Ruby Schwartz, the consultant paediatrician at Central Middlesex Hospital, who said she had been stunned by the social work approach to her diagnosis of scabies. It was surprising and naive for Schwartz to expect that social workers should have questioned her medical opinion, given that she was trusted by Brent, said Akoye.

It was not difficult to see why Michelle Hines, the senior social worker who lifted police protection from Victoria after being informed that her injuries were accidental, had felt unable to question a senior doctor. But Akoye added that Hines' removal of police protection without interviewing Victoria and Marie-Therese Kouao was "without doubt a failure of good practice".