Adopters jailed for poisoning toddler

A couple were jailed for the manslaughter of a three-year-old
boy they planned to adopt at Worcester Crown Court last week.

Ian and Angela Gay were given a five-year sentence for poisoning
Christian Blewitt with salt.

He and his younger brother and sister had been placed for 13
weeks with the Gays in November 2002 but he died five weeks
later.

A serious case review being carried out by Sandwell area child
protection committee is expected to be completed soon.

Angela Saganowska, the council’s executive director of social
inclusion and health, said: “This is a sad case indeed. For all
those who knew Christian, this must have been a deeply upsetting
time.”

But she added that, in this case, the judge had made no
criticism of the adoption process.

Felicity Collier, chief executive of Baaf Adoption and
Fostering, said: “It is always difficult to predict how new
adopters will cope with the stress of parenting a child who may be
sad about leaving their previous foster carers and may initially be
very rejecting.”