Tragedy of the innocents

IN THE early 1970s, as a detective sergeant, I was involved in a case where a seven-year-old girl had been returned from care to her mother by social services.

Some time later, the mother reported the girl as missing and a huge police exercise went on for days. The mother was interviewed as a suspect and admitted killing the young girl.

The body had been hidden under a bed in her flat during a visit by a social worker, who had been put off by a story about the child’s whereabouts. The body was later put into a suitcase and buried nearby.

I was one of the officers who recovered the body. Such a disturbing duty was made even worse by the fact that my two daughters were around the same age as the victim.

I interviewed the social worker in the presence of a senior manager. The impression I got was that they were both more concerned about protecting the reputation of their department than investigating any mistakes made.

Some years later, I attended meetings of a safeguarding partnership. A father had been arrested for an indecent assault on a child. He admitted his guilt and was charged.

Social services had been involved with the family and complained that the police should have waited until a meeting of the committee had agreed taking action.

I told them that as far as I was concerned, the protection of children came before the need for any meetings and arrests would be made in any similar cases while I was in post.

It is terrible that we still hear of the horrific deaths of young children where the authorities have been warned, but fail to act. Det Super BRIAN MARTINDALE

(retired), Christchurch, Dorset.