Climbie inquiry stopped by assault on police officer

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.