Social workers ignored warnings before mum stamped girl to death
A LITTLE girl stamped to death by her drug addict mother was failed by social services, who viewed the killer as a victim not a threat, a report reveals.
Ayeeshia- Jayne Smith was 21 months old when she was murdered by her mother Kathryn Smith, 24, the day after a multiagency meeting to discuss the child’s safety.
The ‘growing sense of unease’ came too late to save Ayeeshia- Jayne after missed opportunities and mistakes by social workers and health professionals, a serious case review concluded.
Professionals were overly focused on Smith’s ‘vulnerability to domestic abuse’ and too ‘optimistic’ about the mother’s ability to change her ways. That ‘empathy for her as a victim and liking for her’ meant not enough was done to keep her child safe, although the report by the Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Board found the murder couldn’t have been predicted.
There were five police call-outs for incidents in the three months before Ayeeshia- Jayne’s death, five occasions when injuries were noticed and she needed two hospital visits.
That should have escalated concerns about her neglect, and not enough was done when there was ‘concrete evidence’ of cannabis-loving Smith taking drugs on two occasions in the days before the murder, the report found.
Smith was jailed for life last year after being found guilty of murder at Birmingham Crown Court. The toddler, who weighed just 20lbs when she died, was attacked with such force she suffered three broken ribs and bit through her own tongue.
Experts said her injuries in the attack at the family home in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on May 1, 2014, were so severe she resembled a car crash victim. Smith must serve a minimum of 19 years behind bars.
The toddler’s stepfather, 23-year-old Matthew Rigby, was jailed for three years and six months for causing or allowing the death of a child.
Ayeeshia-Jayne was placed on a child protection plan before she was born because of concerns about possible neglect.
Further concerns about her domestic circumstances meant she was taken into care for five months before being returned to her mother in October 2013, about six months before she died. Smith was said to have ‘complied with all the expectations’ of social workers and made ‘considerable progress’ in understanding the impact of domestic abuse on children.
However, bruises to Ayeeshia-Jayne’s buttocks and face were reported to social workers and a row with Smith’s boyfriend led to damage to a door and her eviction from a flat.
Legal advice to take action was twice ignored by a social worker. On the second occasion in the month before the murder, advice to issue ‘urgent care proceedings’ was not acted upon.
The social worker was said to be ‘naïve’ and believed Smith was ‘not herself posing a risk’. The report noted: ‘ An unduly positive picture of [Smith’s] capacity to parent safely went unchallenged, and the daily lived experience of life for [Ayeeshia- Jayne] was somewhat lost.’
There was a ‘missed opportunity’ to go back to court in these problem- filled final months when professionals ‘should have been more inquisitive,’ the serious case review concluded.
An NSPCC spokesman said: ‘This report has revealed a series of missed opportunities and flawed practices that did not consistently prioritise Ayeeshia-Jayne’s needs – and must now be addressed and improved.’
‘Concrete evidence of drug taking’