Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SCANDAL OF THE 63 KIDS KILLED BY PARENTS
..and how the law lets it happen
THESE children are among at least 63 killed after the law allowed them to be left with violent parents.
The scandalous toll is revealed in our probe which shows how the authorities were forced to honour dangerous parents’ human rights despite knowing of their abusive behaviour.
Today we launch a campaign to demand changes to the law.
AT least 63 children have died at the hands of their parents while the authorities protected the killers’ human rights.
A nine-month Sunday Mirror probe reveals professionals knew each of the innocent kids was in the clutches of someone with a history of abuse.
Yet there is currently no law to protect them.
Under human rights laws, parents have a right to a family life which has to be respected by authorities.
The legal blind spot means parents’ rights are continually put before the safety of the child, often regardless of what has happened in the past.
Today, together with top lawyers, politicians and charities, we join with victims’ families to call on the Government to change the law and save lives.
Our campaign – Save Kids From Violent Parents – follows an investigation which revealed awful cases of abuse, torture and death.
RUINED
Last night Gwyneth Swain – who lost her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter in an arson attack – told Prime Minister Boris Johnson: “Things have got to change.”
Gwyneth, 72, went on: “I lost three generations of my family in one night. The pain is something you can’t put into words. I live with it daily. It destroys you. Yet this tragedy could have been so easily prevented.
“It’s disgusting there have been 63 deaths. Needless deaths. So many lives have been ruined.”
Our investigation reveals even parents with serious convictions are not automatically barred from unsupervised access to their children.
Until now, agencies and family court judges have simply been given guidance to help them make decisions in the best interests of a child. We want to ensure no one convicted of violent crimes, child abuse or sexual offences and known to the authorities has automatic access to their kids.
Unsupervised contact would only be granted if the ban was overturned by a judge – after the parent passed a strict risk assessment by domestic violence experts. The same rules would apply to those who have similar findings made against them in civil proceedings, such as family court hearings.
We probed the cases of nearly 150 children who had contact with abusive parents. We looked at deaths since 2004, when the Children’s Act was updated in the wake of the Victoria Climbie tragedy. Authorities compiled serious case reviews where children were abused or neglected, resulting in serious harm or death.
We studied thousands of pages of case notes to uncover the tragic stories we reveal today.
Victoria, eight, was starved and tortured by her great aunt Marie Therese Kouao, 63, and Kouao’s boyfriend, Carl Manning, 46, after agencies missed numerous chances to save her. She died in 2000 and her murderers were jailed for life.
The updated legislation was supposed to make it easier for local authorities to step in when they know a child is at risk. But few lessons appear to have been learned.
Most social workers currently receive training on domestic abuse as part of their degree course – but the content varies between universities.
Training can also vary between local authorities. Our probe threw up a raft of statistics that send a chill down the spine. All of the kids died at the hands of parents which either police, social workers and sometimes even family courts knew to be violent.
Fifty-two were killed by dads known to authorities for domestic abuse. Another seven were killed by both parents in cases where the dads had similar histories. This includes the six Philpott children who perished in 2012 after dad Mick, 63, and mum Mairead, 38, set their Derby house on fire with accomplice Paul Mosley, 52.
Mick Philpott had been convicted of attempting to murder an ex and was repeatedly reported for domestic violence. But he was allowed to keep all of the kids he killed in that fire.
Twenty-one of the children died at the hands of parents with at least one conviction for violent crime. In all but two cases, the previous victims had been women or children. In nine
cases, contact with dads was ordered by family courts despite warning signs parents were a risk.
The death toll of 63 covers only cases of murder and manslaughter. There were many more involving parents convicted of causing or allowing the deaths of a child, such as Baby P’s mum Tracey Connolly.
Our investigation shows desperate families have also repeatedly tried to raise the alarm about violent parents. Kelly Whitworth lost her son Tommy Lee when he was just 27 days old. Her partner Liam Laverick, 28, shook their baby to death in 2014 and was given eight years for manslaughter. Kelly, 26, lived in fear of Laverick, and Hull police were called to investigate abuse claims eight times in Tommy Lee’s short life. Laverick was banned from contacting his kids from a previous relationship due to “significant domestic violence”. He was also jailed for harassing the mum.
Yet a report revealed social services placed “no restrictions” on his contact with Tommy Lee.
Our call to action has been backed by leading domestic violence charity Refuge, after it was revealed almost 800,000 children in the UK live in homes where domestic abuse occurs. Chief executive Sandra Horley said: “That’s why Refuge is supporting this important campaign by the Sunday Mirror to end the scandal of unsafe child contact with domestic abuse perpetrators. The investigations shed further light on what we at
Refuge are sadly only too aware.
“Domestic abuse needs to be taken more seriously by family courts as children are paying for decisions around contact, sometimes with their lives. Ending unsafe contact and improving how family courts respond to domestic abuse is essential if we are to end this widespread problem.”
Shadow Home Office minister Carolyn Harris will table an amendment to the Government’s domestic abuse bill in response to our probe.
The bill was drafted earlier this year but we want to make it stronger to save more kids from harm. Ms Harris said: “We cannot lose another child to legal recklessness. The idea children need both parents is admirable but in reality a dangerous parent threatens the life of even their own child.
“This cannot be allowed and will not be tolerated. The Government must make resources available to make the domestic abuse bill as strong as it can be. Family courts have to accept scrutiny and make decisions based on the needs of the child, not on the ideology of two parents.
“Judges, court officials and advisers who place children with dangerous parents should be held accountable.”
Family lawyer Cris McCurley, who drafted the amendment on behalf of the campaigning Labour MP, said: “We have significant concerns about the safeguarding of victims of abuse and their children. Cuts across the whole of the sector, women’s services, and indeed every part of the justice and support system has led to a complete crisis. Changing the law would send a message.”
The Ministry of Justice said: “These are harrowing cases which underline why we are reviewing the family court system to make sure victims and their children are protected.
“We have also introduced legislation to ban abusers from cross-examining their victims in the family courts and throughout our review we will be engaging with victims across the country to ensure we are doing everything to safeguard them further.”
We cannot lose another child to legal recklessness ... we must save kids from harm
CAROLYN HARRIS LABOUR MP BACKS TOUGHER DOMESTIC ABUSE LAWS