MP demands inquiry into ‘grotesque’ police failings over Poppi
POPPI WORTHINGTON will never get justice, said her family’s local MP, who called for a public inquiry into the “grotesque failings” by police.
John Woodcock, the Labour MP for Barrow-in-Furness, called on the Home Secretary to expose “all that is rotten in the system”.
Mr Woodcock’s comments came after a coroner declared that Poppi was sexually abused before her death in 2012.
The “fit and active” 13-monthold was in an “unsafe” sleeping environment and suffered injuries to her bottom caused by penetration, Cumbria’s senior coroner David Roberts said.
Mr Roberts gave his conclusions yesterday following a threeweek inquest before Christmas at which Poppi’s father Paul Worthington refused to answer questions about her death 252 times.
The coroner said Worthington’s account did not “stand up to scrutiny”.
Cumbria Police’s chief constable Jeremy Graham again apologised to Poppi’s family for the force’s failings, but said police would now look at “possible courses of action” with lawyers following the coroner’s findings.
The MP said: “This is the verdict we all feared – Poppi was probably assaulted by her father before she died. That little girl will probably never get justice because of grotesque failings into the police investigation into her death but we owe it to her to campaign for a public inquiry that can expose all that is rotten in the system that has led us to this terrible day.”
Lead detective on the inquiry, Detective Inspector Amanda Sadler, a former Miss Great Britain, was subjected to a disciplinary hearing last year where gross incompetency was proven and she was demoted in rank.
She has since retired along with her boss, former Detective Chief Inspector Mike Forrester. They faced no further action.