Baby murder probe finds mistakes made
Review rules lessons were not learned from a previous infant killing in 2017 in Newbury
A PROBE into the circumstances surrounding a West Berkshire child murder has revealed failure to learn lessons from a similar tragedy just three years previously.
The baby killer was sentenced to life imprisonment for torturing and killing his infant son, identified only as ‘Bobbie’ in the report.
During the trial it was stated that West Berkshire Council social services knew the man was living with the child’s mother, despite his history of serious violence towards women and children.
Now a Child Safeguarding Practice Review, commissioned and published by Berkshire West Safeguarding Children Partnership, has spelled out a number of failings.
And it reveals some lessons went unlearned from a report into a similar tragedy – the 2017 murder of fourand-a-half-month-old Jack McLaren.
The latest review states that a social worker had warned that, should Bobbie’s father be living with his partner and child, and alcohol was involved, “then the risk was massive”.
It stated: “Despite their continued assertions to the contrary, evidence pointed to them being in a relationship.”
Bobbie’s father was unco-operative with social services and his partner had suddenly stopped engaging, prompting the comment: “For mother to stop all engagement was highly unusual and should have been followed up... but this issue was not explored... she maintained the clearly false position that they were not in a relationship.
“This was important information and the possibility that she may be a victim of coercive control should have been considered.
“Despite these agency misgivings, in late November 2019 Children’s Social Care concluded their prebirth assessment with the decision that their involvement could cease, despite [the father’s] refusal to engage.”
The report notes: “Patterns of engagement and withdrawal should prompt an escalation of concern, and not closure of the case... no solutions were offered to address the parents’ intransigence.”
Bobbie’s father living with the mother presented a “known risk” to Bobbie but “this information was not escalated... or shared with any other agency.
“In seeking to explore why, despite knowing [his violent history], such significant information was not shared, it seems that by the time the baby was born, it was overlooked.
“There seems to have almost been a general assumption that everyone knew he was living there.”
The report then referred to the death of four-month-old Jack McLaren in 2017. Daniel McLaren shook his son so violently at the family home in Fleetwood Close, Newbury, that he suffered catastrophic brain damage and died two days later.
During the trial it emerged that McLaren had notched up convictions for 33 offences, including 10 for battery, one for inflicting grievous bodily harm and another for wounding.
He, like Bobbie’s father, had avoided attending a court-ordered ‘building better relationships’ course.
A Serious Case Review acknowledged that mistakes were made in that case, but West Berkshire Council refused to publish the report in full, citing concerns for the family’s feelings.
The Lawton review makes the revelation that “practitioners... were not familiar with the [McLaren] SCR or the recommendations”, some of which have still not been actioned.
“Recommendations relating to ... working with resistance were made which are relevant to Bobbie’s case, whose death occurred almost three years later.”
The report also acknowledges that coronovirus lockdowns made the relevant agencies’ work more difficult.
Berkshire West Safeguarding Children Partnership Board said in a statement: “As identified within the report, agencies had been working with the family from Bobbie’s birth and this tragic outcome, although not predictable, was made more possible due to disruption to services during the Covid lockdown periods and the associated increased stress factors in households, particularly those with young children, which has now been recognised at a national level.
“The tragic incident which led to the death ... took place in the early period of the first national lockdown and resulted in immediate changes to working practice across the partnership, as well as those that have now been established as part of our learning from the review.
“The report has established a number of lessons to be learned.
“In particular there is recognition of the challenge of working with and engaging with families who prefer not to access support services.
“The agencies involved have already responded to the recommendations and will continue to work together to safeguard children across West Berkshire, Reading and Wokingham.”