Baby Preston murdered as social services branded tower of jenga | UK | News
Victoria Climbie
More than two decades have passed since eight-year-old Victoria died after years of torture and abuse at the hands of her great-aunt Marie Thérèse Kouao and her partner Carl Mannings. It turned out that Kouao reported his partner to social services for sexually assaulting his niece, but removed the complaint the next day and the protection agency did not follow up at all.
Peter Connelly, Baby P
Seventeen-month-old Peter Connelly suffered more than 50 injuries as a result of months of abuse by Baby P, Tracey Connelly, Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen. This was despite 60 visits from social workers – as well as paramedics and police – in the eight months before his death on 3 August 2007. The full report into how the toddler died revealed that Baby Peter’s mother, Tracey Connelly, told authorities she had a boyfriend – but they didn’t ask who Peter was or insist on meeting him.
Logan Mwangi
Logan Mwangi was tortured and left to die along with 13-year-old Craig Mulligan, his stepfather, racist ex-con John Cole, 40, and the ‘defenseless’ boy’s mother, Angharad Williamson, 31. Logan Mwangi suffered 56 external cuts and bruises and ‘catastrophic’ internal injuries from what appeared to be a high-speed road accident from a ‘brutal and sustained attack’ within hours. or the days before his death. It was later revealed that social workers had agreed that Mulligan could move into the family’s cramped flat just five days before the murder, despite having previously threatened to kill Logan.
A subsequent review by safeguarding authorities found Williamson and Cole were able to conceal their abuse of Logan due to the coronavirus lockdown, with social workers too afraid to force meetings. In June 2021, the family was removed from the child protection register; this meant that it was no longer believed that there was a serious risk of harm.
Star Hobson
Star Hobson was just 16 months old when she was murdered by her mother’s girlfriend, Savannah Brokill, in September 2020. A social worker who visited his home reported there was “nothing to worry about” and said Brockill was doing “remarkably well” with the baby. Social workers missed five opportunities to save the child. In each case, Brockhill and Smith managed to convince social workers that the marks in the Star were accidental or that the complaints were made maliciously by people who did not like their relationship.
Star was said to have been injured twice in the months leading up to his death by his mother Frankie Smith, 20, and his girlfriend, West Yorkshire Police said.
Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
Six-year-old Arthur was beaten, tortured and then murdered his stepmother Emma Tustin and father Thomas Hughes at their home in Solihull. Tustin, along with Hughes, deprived the child of food and force-fed him salt, then slammed his head repeatedly against a hard surface, killing the little boy. While Arthur was being abused, social workers and police missed four opportunities to save him, ignoring his family’s pleas and even threatening them with arrest under Covid rules if they tried to visit him at his Tustin home.
ollie davis
Ollie Davis, from Leicester, suffered 40 broken bones in his tiny limbs and a series of brain injuries after being subjected to a horrific campaign of abuse at the hands of his father Michael Davis in October 2017. According to the security review, social services missed “early opportunities” to intervene in Ollie’s upbringing; Davis attacked his little son because he was tired of spending nights playing games instead of sleeping.
Sara Sharif
Sara Sharif, 10, was found dead in her bed at her home in Woking, Surrey, on August 8, 2023, after her father Urfan Sharif and stepmother Beinash Batool waged a horrific two-year “campaign of torture and abuse”. Subsequent investigations revealed widespread failures in child safety in many public institutions. Yet repeated failures saw Sara suffer over 70 external injuries, including 11 spinal fractures, traumatic brain injury, human bite marks, iron burns and scalds from hot water, and eventually succumb to the abuse.
