Probe into death of Huddersfield tot ‘attacked by dad’ at HRI

Nov 30 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

The boy was attacked after he and his mother were moved to a side ward where they could not be closely supervised.

Panel members found there had been two serious incidents of domestic violence in the boy’s family in the months before his birth.

They reported that social workers, health professionals and police all had concerns about the family’s wellbeing but failed to compel each other to take more “assertive action”.

A short-term foster placement could not be arranged, and the panel found this left social workers “between a rock and a hard place” after the baby’s birth – faced with breaking up the family or keeping him in an unsuitable place.

In May of last year a judge in care proceedings found the father was responsible for the baby’s injuries and that “the mother was at least complicit in hiding the truth.”