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Care of hanged child criticised

Simon and Susan Moody

Social workers responsible for the safety of a child found hanged after suffering neglect were under trained and overworked, inspectors say.

Eight-year-old Charlotte Avenall, who died after being locked in her "filthy" Nottinghamshire bedroom, had been known to social workers for several years.

The county council’s care has been criticised as "inadequate" by Ofsted.

Inspectors found case workers knew Charlotte’s parents locked her in her bedroom at night.

Susan and Simon Moody were each sentenced to a year in jail last month after pleading guilty to child neglect.

Delays in action

Charlotte, who had severe learning difficulties, was forced to use her chest of drawers as a toilet and had smeared excrement on the walls and ceiling of her bedroom.

Social workers had visited the family’s house in Mansfield weeks before she died, but failed to make a follow up appointment after finding nobody at home.

Ofsted’s report stated: "There is a significant shortage of frontline social work staff and the demand for the service, particularly referrals and re-referrals, has increased by 43% resulting in children not being effectively safeguarded."

Inspectors found the quality of assessments was often poor and there were delays in assessing children that could be at risk, as well as in taking action over those identified as at risk of significant harm.

Staff retrained

A backlog of 140 children awaiting assessment was found in one office.

In its own serious case review into Charlotte’s death the county council said the staff who dealt with the case had been retrained and more staff had been employed.

Anthony May, director of children and young people’s services, refused to say whether any staff had been disciplined over the handling of the case at a press conference earlier.

He said the council had been too focused on providing Charlotte’s parents with the right support to look after a disabled child, rather than assessing whether she was in danger.

He added: "I accept the report’s findings and I am committed to continuing to improve services.

"It is going to take hard work and going to take time."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

7/7 inquests to probe MI5’s role

Aftermath of 7 July bomb attacks

Families of victims of the 7/7 suicide bomb attacks in London will learn later whether M15 officers will be called to give inquest evidence.

Lady Justice Hallett, who is acting as coroner, will announce the scope of the inquests, due to start in October.

Relatives want the inquests to examine whether the attacks in July 2005 could have been prevented.

The inquests have been delayed by court cases linked to the attacks in which 52 innocent people were killed.

Surveillance operation

With the fifth anniversary of the 7/7 bombings approaching, the bereaved have had a prolonged wait for the inquests.

Friends of the bombers were tried and acquitted of any involvement in the blasts.

Two of the bombers had cropped up in a surveillance operation more than a year before the attacks.

BBC home affairs correspondent June Kelly says this is why the families want the role of the police and MI5 to be examined as part of the inquests.

The families want the inquests to ask why the security service did not investigate the bombers’ ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan further.

MI5 has said this evidence would give al-Qaeda an "invaluable weapon" and should not be disclosed.

Survivors decision

Lady Justice Hallett will rule on this and a number of other issues in a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The judge has been asked to decide whether the deaths of the 52 innocent victims of the blasts should be considered at the same time as those of the four suicide bombers.

Relatives of those who were killed are opposed to this, saying it would cause too much distress.

And she will rule on whether 7/7 survivors should be designated as interested persons, therefore having a voice at the hearings.

The suicide bombings took place in central London on Tube trains at Aldgate, Edgware Road and between King’s Cross and Russell Square, and on a bus at Tavistock Square.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Woman gives birth to sextuplets

A baby

A woman has given birth to sextuplets at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The four girls and two boys, ranging in weight from 1lb 5oz (0.6kg) to 1lb 15oz (0.9kg), were born 14 weeks early to Vicky and Andy Lamb, both aged 31.

Mrs Lamb, of Oxford, who had fertility treatment, is said to be recovering well following the birth on 14 May. The babies are in intensive care.

Doctors said the next few days would be "critical" for the sextuplets.

Publicist Max Clifford, who is representing the family, said Mrs Lamb became pregnant after taking the same fertility drug she used before the birth of her first child, Gracie, now aged five.

"They are just incredibly grateful for the John Radcliffe Hospital, the doctors and the nurses," he said.

Talking about when the couple might be able to take their babies home, Mr Clifford said: "It is a long way off.

"They are fighting for their lives, they are still critical."

The hospital said sextuplets were born once in every 4.5 million pregnancies.

Last year a woman gave birth to six babies at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast.

Staff ‘privileged’

Before that the last surviving sextuplets in the UK were born in 1993, according to the Multiple Births Foundation charity.

The John Radcliffe Hospital said: "Staff… feel privileged to play their part in such an unusual birth.

"A large team of doctors and nurses were present at the delivery or involved with the immediate management of the babies.

"There were several weeks of planning the delivery prior to the birth."

Consultant neonatologist Dr Kenny McCormick said: "Babies that are born this early need a lot of specialist care.

"They are receiving round-the-clock intensive care and specialist nursing at the moment and their condition is constantly monitored."

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

UK family shot dead in Pakistan

Map of Pakistan

Three Britons – all members of the same family – have been shot dead in Pakistan, according to local police.

The father, mother and 22-year-old daughter were killed while visiting a cemetery in the east of the country.

It is thought the family are from Nelson in Lancashire. They were shot by four gunmen, all understood to be related to them.

The Foreign Office says the British High Commission in Islamabad is urgently looking into the reports.

BBC Islamabad correspondent Aleem Maqbool says two of the gunmen have been arrested, but the other two are still at large.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.