Haringey inquiry clears social workers

Haringey Council has cleared two social
workers of blame for failing to report bloodstains in a flat where
a woman’s body was later found.

Heather Phillips and Nicola Joseph visited the
flat last March to collect an 18-month-old child at the request of
a hospital treating the child’s father for cuts to his hands. They
found blood on the walls and a sofa, and noticed a smell like “hot
blood mixed with body odour”.

However, the pair failed to spot the body of
the child’s mother lying in the kitchen. And they did not report
the blood to police until they returned to work three days
later.

Haringey social services said an internal
review has cleared Phillips and Joseph of blame. “Their reason for
visiting the flat was to collect the baby. Our inquiry found that
it was not unreasonable to assume the blood was from the cut hands.
There was no concrete evidence to suggest that someone had been
killed.”

The child’s father, Momadou Ceesay last month
pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his wife.