MUM’S FURY AFTER KILLER DAD ATTACKS DAUGHTER, 13
Thug father charged over abuse despite warnings
A KILLER dad has attacked his daughter after a family court judge let her stay with him.
The man flew at the 13-year-old in a drunken rage, grabbing her throat.
Last Sunday the teenager’s mum told the Sunday Mirror she feared he could kill the girl if left alone with her. He is now in jail, charged with assaulting his daughter.
The mum was distraught when she picked the teenager up and took her to hospital following the attack.
She said last night: “I’m beyond furious and heartbroken.
“I repeatedly told the authorities this would happen and I do think he could have killed her. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
DANGER
“Both social services and the family courts have allowed my daughter to be put in serious danger.
“I told them what my ex was capable of but they didn’t listen.
“She’s so shaken up but the only comfort I can take from this is that she’s home with me.”
The Mirror told last week how the girl went to live with her dad after a row with her mum over homework.
The father had made online contact after he was released from prison last year. He served half of an eight-year term for the manslaughter of another man – the latest in a string of violent offences.
The girl was allowed to stay with her dad by a judge, acting on the advice of social workers.
This is because a legal blind spot means those convicted of serious crimes are not automatically banned from time alone with their kids. The Sunday Mirror is fighting to change the law as part of our Save Kids From Violent Parents campaign.
We revealed 63 kids have died since 2004 during unsupervised contact with parents known to be abusive.
The toll sent shivers down the spine of the teen’s mum. She told us: “I couldn’t eat or sleep when he had my baby. I saw all of those little faces of dead children in the Sunday Mirror and thought ‘she’s next’.”
The mum told how she fled to a refuge after a seven-year relationship in which her ex raped and beat her. When the girl said she wanted to stay with her dad, social workers told the court they didn’t think he was a risk to her – despite police intelligence suggesting he posed a high risk of reoffending.
The girl has returned to her mum pending a hearing about her future later this year.
Shadow Home Office minister Carolyn Harris is set to table an amendment to the Government’s domestic abuse bill in response to our nine-month probe.
We revealed how kids were also being left with paedophiles and violent criminals because contact with both parents is presumed to be in the best interests of a child.
Human rights laws also mean parents have a right to a family life. We want to ensure no one convicted of violent crime, sexual offences or child abuse can be awarded unsupervised access to their children.
The rules would apply to those who had similar findings made against them in civil cases. Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge, said of the 13- year- old’s ordeal: “This allegation must serve as a wake-up call that the system has to change.
“And fast. No child must go through this pain again and no parent, already affected by domestic abuse, must ever have to face this repeat trauma.”
Visit refuge.org.uk if you need help