Social worker ‘didn’t seem to care about baby killed by parents’

THE social worker for a ten- week- old baby girl allegedly murdered by her parents had a ‘disinterested attitude’ in a safeguarding meeting, a court heard yesterday.

Lily-Mai Saint George died from a serious head injury and had also suffered 18 rib fractures, two leg fractures and severe bruising.

Lauren Saint George, of Enfield, and Darren Hurrell, of Derby, both 25, allegedly shook their baby daughter to death eight days after she was released into their care, despite the objections of hospital staff.

The parents both deny murder, manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of a child and cruelty to a person under 16.

Lily-Mai was born prematurely in November 2017 and spent her first two months in Barnet Hospital in London before she was discharged into her parents’ care on 25 January 2018.

The couple had been homeless for years and staff had tried to stop them taking Lily-Mai home, believing they were incapable of looking after her, jurors heard.

Saint George had told staff that she ‘hated’ the noises Lily-Mai made and wished she would ‘cry instead of groaning’.

The baby died at Great Ormond Street Hospital on 2 February 2018, after being found unresponsive by her parents at their home in Belmont Road, Haringey, two days earlier.

Midwife Marie Creighton told jurors about the attitude of the social worker in a safeguarding meeting on 16 January 2018. ‘I remember her... sauntering in with a miserable look on her face. She said she had been to Lauren and Darren’s flat and everything was fine and she didn’t understand why she was called into the meeting [saying] “Why are we even discussing her?” She displayed a generally disinterested attitude. We explained our concerns. The social worker then began to change her attitude.’ Miss Creighton could not remember who the social worker was.

When Saint George and Hurrell arrived, a doctor questioned them about how they would look after Lily-Mai if she were discharged, jurors heard.

Miss Creighton said: ‘I just sat there and realised that they would not cope. During this meeting while they were both in the room the smell of their body odour became apparent and became increasingly worse.’

Prior to the meeting, Ms Creighton expressed ‘grave concerns’ about the couple’s parenting skills, jurors heard.

‘I did immediately think they came across as a couple who needed extra care,’ she said. ‘ They were both scruffy in appearance,’ she said.

Four days after the birth, Miss Creighton visited the pair at Barnet Hospital. ‘I said to her, “Let’s go and see Lily-Mai.”

‘Lauren replied something like, “No, I’m having my dinner.”’ Later, she ‘just stood there with her back to the baby... moaning about finding housing, money’, she said. The trial continues.

‘Sauntering in looking miserable’