Kids killed in horror blaze ‘so neglected they grunted’
FOUR children who died in a house fire were so neglected they had suffered dozens of injuries and could barely talk.
Despite the siblings living in ‘utter chaos’, a report says professionals believed ‘the mother’s word’ and did not question the evidence in front of them.
One of the children ‘communicated by grunting’ and another had a ‘frozen expression’ in front of social workers.
In a serious case review, Stoke-onTrent and Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board concluded that the actions of social care services ‘fell short’ and the children suffered ‘significant harm as a result of neglect’.
Riley Holt, eight, Keegan Unitt, six, Tilly Unitt, four, and three-year-old Olly Unitt died when flames swept through their Stafford home in February 2019. Their youngest brother, then two, survived.
Parents Natalie Unitt and Christopher Moulton had been smoking in bed that night and a cigarette is thought to have sparked the fire. The Crown Prosecution service decided there was insufficient evidence to charge the couple.
The family first came to the attention of Staffordshire county council in 2017. A child protection plan was later put in place, although little progress was made.
More than 50 injuries, marks or bruises were seen on the children over 17 months. Their parents said two of the marks were caused by bumping into a sofa and another was Play-Doh.
Report author Joanna Nicolas said: ‘The children were not given sufficient stimulation, supervision or guidance. The mother was controlling the relationships that the entire family had with agencies.’
Helen Riley, the council’s director for families, said: ‘While the tragic nature of these deaths could not have been predicted, there are certainly areas of practice around the family that can be improved.’