Missed chances to save boy, two, killed by mother
A two-year-old boy who was murdered by his mother and her partner “fell off the radar” of social services despite concerns being raised six times. The mother, Rachel Trelfa, 31, and her civil partner Nyomi Fee, 29, are facing life sentences after inflicting injuries on Liam Fee that were more often seen in car accidents.
A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy killed by his mother and her partner, who beat him so brutally his heart ruptured, “fell off the radar” of social services despite the alarm being raised six times.
An urgent case review was announced yesterday after Rachel Trelfa, 31, and her civil partner Nyomi Fee, 29, were convicted of killing the toddler. They are facing life sentences after murdering Liam using “blunt force” that caused injuries more often seen in car accident victims.
They also subjected two other young boys in their care at their home, near Glenrothes in Fife, who cannot be identified, to one of the most prolonged and disturbing cases of child cruelty to come before the courts.
The two older children were forced to take cold showers if they wet the bed, one was imprisoned overnight in a homemade cage and the other was tied naked to a chair and left overnight in a room where snakes and rats were kept.
The women blamed one of the older boys for Liam’s death. The boy was so afraid of them that he told police he had strangled the two-year-old. He later admitted this was a fabrication, and po- lice paid tribute to the boys’ courage in supplying vital evidence against the women.
The High Court in Livingston heard that Trelfa, Liam’s mother, and her sadistic and bullying partner – the driving force in the relationship – were guilty of “unyielding, heartless cruelty”. But the authorities took no action against the couple, despite several separate reports that Liam may be in danger.
There was “social work awareness” of the family 14 months before Liam died in March 2014, including from Heather Farmer, a child minder who contacted the Care Inspectorate and social workers in January 2013 saying she was so worried for Liam’s safety that “she could not sleep”. Kimberley Trail, the manager of a nursery in Kirkcaldy, recorded injuries on the toddler, and Patricia Smith, a mother who saw the couple out with Liam contacted social services because there was something “deathly” about him.
A spokesman for Fife council admitted the case “dropped off the radar” when the social worker assigned to the family went off work sick. Fife Child Protection Committee said yesterday that the significant case review would be “thorough and comprehensive”.
Sentencing will take place on July 6.
Rachel Trelfa and Nyomi Fee were guilty of ‘unyielding heartless cruelty’