asheka brown Essay

Submitted By ashboo2
Words: 1199
Pages: 5

A short life of misery and pain of baby P

Two men have been found guilty of causing or allowing the death of a 17-month-old boy. The child's mother had already admitted allowing or causing the child's death.
The trial highlighted a catalogue of missed opportunities to save his life and the case has chilling echoes of the death of Victoria Climbie.
On 2 August 2007 police announced they were dropping an investigation into allegations of child abuse they had launched the previous December.
Baby P's mother was elated and told social workers she would go home to hug her son and bake cakes.
The next morning he was dead.
Baby P, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was pronounced dead shortly after midday on 3 August at the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton, north London.
But it was already clear when an ambulance arrived at his Tottenham home 45 minutes earlier that he had been dead for some time.
His mother described him in her 999 call as "blue, cold and stiff." In his short life he had suffered repeated - and unexplained - injuries.
The post-mortem examination revealed Baby P had suffered:
• Eight broken ribs and a broken back, with another area of bleeding around the spine at neck level.
• Numerous bruises, cuts and abrasions, including a deep tear to his left ear lobe, which had been pulled away from his head.
• Severe lacerations to the top of his head, including a large gouge which could have been caused by a dog bite.
• Blackened finger- and toenails, with several nails missing; the middle finger of his right hand was without a nail and its tip was also missing, as if it had been sliced off.
• A tear to his fraenulum, the strip of skin between the middle of the upper lip and the gum, which had partially healed.
• One of his front teeth had also been knocked out and was found in his colon. He had swallowed it.
The jury was not shown photographs of the child's actual injuries because it would be too upsetting but was shown computer generated images of his injuries.
His mother, who is now 27, told her GP in September 2006 that her son "bruises easily" and she was worried she might be accused of hurting him.
The following month she returned to see Dr Jerome Iqwueke and explained away bruises on the child, saying he had fallen down the stairs the day before.
On 11 December 2006 Dr Iqwueke saw the child again and noticed more bruises, none of which the mother could adequately explain.
He immediately referred Baby P to paediatric specialists at the Whittington Hospital, where doctors concluded the marks suggested non-accidental injury.
Haringey social services were notified, Baby P was put on the child protection register and a police investigation began.
Five days later he was released into the care of Angela Godfrey, a close friend of the mother.
At the end of January 2007 social services decided to return Baby P to the family home.
Dr Heather Mackinnon, the paediatric consultant in charge of Baby P's care at the Whittington, said she had been unable to attend various case conferences concerning him but had made her report available.
'Systemic failure'
She said she would not have supported returning the child to his family.
She also said she did not receive the minutes of any of the meetings until after Baby P's death eight months later - something she described as "clearly a systemic failure".
Dr Mackinnon said many of those involved in the case felt sorry for the mother and she said there was "a collective thinking that this was more likely to be neglect rather than deliberate injury - which was not my view".
The police officer investigating the suspected abuse, Detective Constable Angela Slade, said she had also been opposed to Baby P returning to the family home because her investigation had not been completed.
But she said she was told by social services the mother was working well with them and a delay in returning would affect the re-integration of the family.
Social services had