POLICE BUNGLES PUT JUSTICE ON HOLD
A SERIES of costly blunders means no one has been brought to justice for Poppi’s death.
High Court family judge Mr Justice Peter Jackson’s 2016 report revealed shocking details of what happened to the child.
The family court judge ruled Paul Worthington had brutally abused his daughter who died in hospital hours later.
But the catalogue of mistakes by police, social workers and medical staff mean that Worthington, 49, cannot face any criminal action without new evidence.
In his damning report Mr Justice Jackson blasted senior detectives for refusing to authorise forensic tests, despite a pathologist’s fears that Poppi was assaulted.
The day after the December 2012 post- mortem, pathologist Dr Alison Armour phoned “Detective Inspector S” to express concerns over possible sex abuse injuries.
She also described identified leg fractures as being very unusual for a child of Poppi’s age.
Worthington was already known to police at the time of Poppi’s death. In 1995 he was quizzed by officers over an “association with someone who may have committed offences against children”.
But despite Dr Armour’s concerns Cumbria CID officer “DCI F” refused to authorise the forensic testing of any samples or items seized.
On Christmas Eve 2012, Dr Armour again telephoned Cumbria CID officer “DI S” to claim Poppi’s death was “unlawful”. But police felt she had jumped to conclusions and refused to act until getting her full report.
The delay meant no real police investigation took place until August 2013. By then forensic evidence had disappeared, Worthington’s laptop had vanished and it was too late to carry out crucial DNA swabs on clothing and bedsheets.