A short life of misery and pain

[Dirk Gently]

Two men have been found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a 17-month-old boy. The child's mother had already admitted allowing or causing the child's death.

The trial highlighted a catalogue of missed opportunities to save his life and the case has chilling echoes of the death of Victoria Climbie.
The boy's mother denied knowing anything about bloodstains

On 2 August 2007 police announced they were dropping an investigation into allegations of child abuse they had launched the previous December.

Baby P's mother was elated and told social workers she would go home to hug her son and bake cakes.

The next morning he was dead.

Baby P, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was pronounced dead shortly after midday on 3 August at the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton, north London.

But it was already clear when an ambulance arrived at his Tottenham home 45 minutes earlier that he had been dead for some time.

His mother described him in her 999 call as "blue, cold and stiff." In his short life he had suffered repeated - and unexplained - injuries.

The post mortem revealed Baby P had suffered:


? Eight broken ribs and a broken back, with another area of bleeding around the spine at neck level.


? Numerous bruises, cuts and abrasions, including a deep tear to his left ear lobe, which had been pulled away from his head.


? Severe lacerations to the top of his head, including a large gouge which could have been caused by a dog bite.


? Blackened finger- and toenails, with several nails missing; the middle finger of his right hand was without a nail and its tip was also missing, as if it had been sliced off.


? A tear to his fraenulum, the strip of skin between the middle of the upper lip and the gum, which had partially healed.


? One of his front teeth had also been knocked out and was found in his colon. He had swallowed it.

Bastards!
This just makes me sick!

Full story here.

[Wayne]

There are no words for this sort of thing. It makes me feel both extremely angry & extremely depressed at the same time. Aside from that i'm just left speechless.

[Jon Masters]

These are the sort of people I'd bring the death penalty back for.

I wish nothing but ill upon them for the rest of their sorry lives.

[SiHart]

I just don't get the mentality of anyone who could do this to a child. It's very upsetting to read.

Si xx

[Wayne]

This story really stayed with me yesterday. I had horrible dreams last night.
Must as i hate to sound all Batman at the Controls, i agree with Jon in cases like this.

[Paul Monk]

I really can't think about this, it horrifies me THAT much. Apparently the parents can't be named which is outrageous.
What were the authorities up to as well? They knew the signs because it happened before.

[Dave Lewis]

Absolute ****ing scum. I have no compunction in advocating punitive justice on these cunts - preferably something akin to being hung, drawn and quartered. I don't believe it's a Batman At The Controls type reaction either; it's a gut response to something barbaric and inhumane to want to see some kind of retribution meted out against anyone evil enough to cause a baby so much pain and suffering.

[Jim]

Its hard to put an arguement against that feeling Dave. Its an absolutely shocking story and really makes you loose faith. What I cant get my head around is the failures of authority. Working in a similar field I understand work pressures and heavy caseloads but apparently this baby was seen 60 times by social workers and despite the hurrendous injuries they didnt act or recognise the full extent of what was going on.

The mother by all accounts covered the external abuse by things like spreading chocolate round the face etc - but didnt the doctors and social workers involved not hold and examine this child?? It had a broken back bone. I cant get my head around it. Im sure children have been taken away for much less than what was going on here.

Apart from the severe punishment the perpetrators deserve, the authorities involved in public protection must be held to account on this. It wasnt a case that "slipped through the net" it has to be significant negligence of the practitioners involved.
The welfare of this child wasnt a priority - it couldnt have been and thats about as wrong as it gets in my view.

As far as punishment goes, we will never see true juctice but i dont want to be reading about them in a years time enjoys playstations and dvds from their cells.

[Dave Lewis]

What I cant get my head around is the failures of authority. Working in a similar field I understand work pressures and heavy caseloads but apparently this baby was seen 60 times by social workers and despite the hurrendous injuries they didnt act or recognise the full extent of what was going on.

The mother by all accounts covered the external abuse by things like spreading chocolate round the face etc - but didnt the doctors and social workers involved not hold and examine this child?? It had a broken back bone. I cant get my head around it. Im sure children have been taken away for much less than what was going on here.

Apart from the severe punishment the perpetrators deserve, the authorities involved in public protection must be held to account on this. It wasnt a case that "slipped through the net" it has to be significant negligence of the practitioners involved.
The welfare of this child wasnt a priority - it couldnt have been and thats about as wrong as it gets in my view.

Absolutely Jim - it does make one wonder how on Earth they could have missed such obvious abuse; particularly if the poor kid was seen over SIXTY times.

[Rob McCow]

I've heard about this a bit and decided that I don't want to hear, see or think about it any more. I don't want to look at reconstructions of the injuries in the newspaper, I don't want to know what they did to the child. There's the headline 'Child beaten to death' and then I want to know as little about it as possible.

Does that make me a bad person?

[Paul Monk]

I'm the same. The worse thing is having two children myself and remembering what they were like at that age and just not being able to conceive who anyone could do that. Ever.

[Larry]

These are the sort of people I'd bring the death penalty back for.

I.

I'm a firm supporter for the restoration of the death penalty - personaly if I and many people had their way vermin like this would not even get the pretence of a trial I'd just take them out to a field and have them executed on the spot with a bullet to the back of the head.

[Wayne]

Does that make me a bad person?

Not at all.
I can fully understand how you feel.

[Dave Lewis]

I think my response earlier was too strong; until today I hadn't even seen or heard about the sad story of 'Baby P' and I was reading about it whilst concurrently surfing Planet Skaro and posted comments that, while they were honest enough at the time, seem inappropriate with hindsight.

Yes, the tormenters, torturers and ultimately killers of 'Baby P' are the vilest kind of scum imaginable but being hung, drawn and quarters is equally barbaric and after consideration I wouldn't wish that on anyone, no matter what dreadful acts they had committed.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[WhiteCrow]

this baby was seen 60 times by social workers and despite the hurrendous injuries they didnt act or recognise the full extent of what was going on.

At the other end of the spectrum we've heard this month about parents being close to having their children off them because they're too fat.

I've heard about this a bit and decided that I don't want to hear, see or think about it any more ... Does that make me a bad person?

No - everything about this case is disturbing and upsetting. It's only human to not want to know too much.

As a couple who can't have any more children, it often seems really cruel that we can provide a loving enviroment, but can't have any more children. Whilst people who don't care for their kids can sometimes go on to have large broods.

We were for a time training to become Foster parents ourselves, but had to stop when it looked likely we might be moving abroad.

[Captain Tancredi]

An internal inquiry by Haringey's Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) blamed legal advice taken a week before the baby's death for the decision not to take him into care.

It found "numerous examples" of good practice in the case although there had been "weaknesses" in information flow.

Sharon Shoesmith, chair of the board, said: "The very sad fact is that we can't stop people who are determined to kill children."

This woman was quoted on the front page of the Metro paper this morning and it's quite breathtaking that nobody has had the sense of responsibility or decency to resign over it. At the very least, if I were her boss I'd be calling her in first thing in the morning and telling her that I expected her resignation on my desk by the end of the day.

[Stephen Morgan]

This is a very disturbing and upsetting case and I've not been able to face reading this thread as all the details on the news have been bad enough.
How this kind of thing could be allowed to go unchecked in this day and age is beyond me, and I hope the persons involved get what they deserve.

[Carol Baynes]

Evil ****ing cunts. Unbelievable any human being could do this to another, let alone a defenceless child.

[Si Hunt]

I've heard about this a bit and decided that I don't want to hear, see or think about it any more

I'm glad I'm not the only one. We as a race have failed this boy, and it's too late. So I don't want to hear, read, or speak about it.

Si.

[Alex]

I can understand that response Si, I feel the same and certainly don't want to hear the graphic details which are truly sickening, but if the publicity means that it stops similar cases from happening then I suppose it serves some purpose.

I'm not someone who supports the death sentence, and in most cases I don't believe in any kind of physical retribution, but when it comes to something like this I really hope that their fellow prisoners discover why these people are in prison, and make their lives a living hell.

[Wayne]

I can understand that response Si, I feel the same and certainly don't want to hear the graphic details which are truly sickening, but if the publicity means that it stops similar cases from happening then I suppose it serves some purpose.

It's an odd one.
Like i said earlier, i fully understand Steve & Si's reaction & don't blame anyone for feeling that way, but somehow it seems wrong to bury our heads in the sand.
Illogical i know, because there's not a damn thing anyone can do.

[Si Hunt]

if the publicity means that it stops similar cases from happening then I suppose it serves some purpose.

But isn't this just miles from where a similar situation occured with a little girl? That didn't stop this from happening.

One of the saddest things is that it was his own family that did this to him, so there's no-one left to fight for justice even for his memory. No-one is going to care. The only people investigating this will be social workers and police just doing their job.

Si.

[Thasc]

I think it's absolutely disgusting what they've done
Bring back hanging that's what I say

[WhiteCrow]

David Cameron was in the Commons yesterday saying the investigation into the total failure of Social Services here should not be performed internally to social services, given that they'd so let down this child. The same area had the Victoria Columbia case 8 years ago, and obviously have learnt nothing.

The parents are absolutely evil. But Social Services have totally failed in their job. I mean how can these people live with themselves?

I'd personally like to see the social worker responsible go to jail for a stretch for their criminal incompetence.

[Thasc]

I agree the social worker responsible should be punished