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Victoria Climbie

Where are the Others that Failed Her?

Climbie social worker is free to work with children again

By Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent

Daily Mail Friday, June 10, 2005 Latest: BBC News May 22 2006

 

A SOCIAL worker who failed to halt the abuse and murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie won back the right to work with children yesterday. Lisa Arthurworrey, who repeatedly failed to notice that Victoria was being tortured, was said by a tribunal to be 'another victim' in the Climbie tragedy.
 

 

Social Worker - Lisa Arthurworrey

The decision to overturn her ban on working in childcare means that every social worker, manager and police officer yesterday that she felt vindicated by the ruling of the Care Standards Tribunal, which reversed a ban imposed by former education secretary Charles Clarke

The tribunal panel blamed not the social worker but leaders and managers at Haringey Council in north London for their 'chaotic' supervision.

Victoria, who died in February 2000, had been sent from the Ivory Coast by her parents to live with 'aunt' Marie Therese Kouao in the hope of a better education. Her body carried 128 injuries, and she spent her final weeks lying in a bath, freezing and bound head and foot inside a bin bag. Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning are serving life for her murder.

 

The Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report Jan 2003

 

Miss Arthurworrey was said in Lord Laming's 2003 report into the killing to have failed to notice signs of abuse. In December 1999 and January 2000 she visited the flat, but no one came to the door. Miss Arthurworrey decided the family had left the area. I n reality Victoria was dying in the flat. She was sacked by Haringey Council and lost a employment tribunal case to win her job back. But yesterday the Care Standards Tribunal said it was wrong to prevent her working with children.

 

The panel said:

 

'Miss Arthurworrey came over to us in her evidence as a straightforward and caring individual who has fully acknowledged the mistakes she made.' 

Miss Arthurworrey told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I made many and serious mistakes However, it is also true that I was badly let down by my employer and had I been working in a different environment maybe those mistakes would not have been made.'
She added: 'I have never considered myself a danger to children, so in that respect I do feel vindicated.
 

Far from paying a price for failure senior figures at Haringey at the time of Victoria's death went on to highly paid jobs elsewhere. Mary Richardson, who headed the 'chaotic' social services department, left for a £100,000 a year job as social services director in neighbouring Hackney. Hackney social services were found to have acted questionably in the 'witchcraft' abuse case of another eight-year-old African girl.

Note: Carole Baptiste repeatedly failed to give evidence to inquiry!

A key figure in the Victoria Climbie case is to face trial over accusations that she deliberately failed to appear before the inquiry into the girl's murder.

 

Carole Baptiste's prosecution by the inquiry headed by Lord Laming is the first of its kind.

She pleaded not guilty at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court in south London on Wednesday to breaching a summons issued by the inquiry. Ms Baptiste was a team leader at Haringey social services in north London and the line manager for Victoria's social worker, Lisa Arthurworrey.

 

Victoria's parents, Francis and Berthe, yesterday called on the Government to punish those senior managers and councillors who were responsible for the chaos that passed for social care at Haringey at the time of Victoria murder

 

They said 'only by this can the public have confidence that those really to blame for the failure to protect children have been made to take responsibility for their wrongdoing.'

They added that they have 'always held that Lisa Arthurworrey was simply a convenient scapegoat for the senior people to hide their failings behind'.

The Climbié's hit out at Haringey Council not taking action against Mary Richardson.
 

The latter went on to run Hackney social services, where we have again seen a child abuse scandal among the African communities that the social services failed to properly deal with' they said. s.doughty@dailymail.co.uk

 

 

Where are the Others that Failed Her?

By Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent Daily Mail Friday, June 10, 2005

 

Mary Richardson

 

ACCUSATION: Head of Haringey social services department, condemned by the Climbie inquiry for its 'blinding incompetence'. Left the council two months after Victoria's death.

 

 

WHERE IS SHE NOW? Joined Hackney Council as its £100,000-a-year social services director. In charge in Hackney at the time of the 'witchcraft' abuse case, in the news , when social services sent an eight-year-old African girl back to an aunt who was torturing her.

 

 

 

Comment: Mary Richardson, formerly Haringey's Director of Social Services, was headhunted by Hackney

 

Carol Wilson
 

ACCUSATION: The assistant director of Haringey social services 'knew enough' about the weaknesses of team member Carole Baptiste, according to the report. It claimed that she should have 'at least seriously questioned the wisdom of putting her in charge of a pressurised investigation and assessment team'.
 

WHERE IS SHE NOW? Did not face disciplinary proceedings and moved to a £65,000-a-year post as head of social services at Waltham Forest Council.

 

 

 

Comment: Carol Wilson, responsible for Haringey's Children Services, moved to Waltham Forest - where the Social Services Inspectorate has recently given no stars at all to the Council's social services department, one of only twelve authorities in the country with such a low rating.

 

 

Gurbux Singh

ACCUSATION: The then chief executive of Haringey Council did not face disciplinary action. This was despite the report claiming he 'carried overall responsibility' for the council.

 

WHERE IS HE NOW? Took a job as chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality three weeks before Victoria died. Quit in 2002 after a fracas with police outside Lord's cricket ground. Last year he was one of four British officials to work in Baghdad for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

 

 

 

Comment: Gurbux Singh, Haringey's former Chief Executive, was Tony Blair's personal choice for Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, until he got drunk and assaulted a policeman outside Lords

 

 

 

Philip Wheeler

ACCUSATION: Detective Chief Inspector in charge of Brent and Haringey police child protection units. Accused of allow-ing his units to descend into chaos, with overworked frontline staff having to 'muddle through as best they could'. His 'lack of supervision' was a 'crucial factor in teams being allowed to deteriorate'.

WHERE IS HE NOW? After being seconded to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, he returned to Scotland Yard in January 2003 because it was felt 'inappropriate' to have him inspecting other officers.

 

 

Comment: Philip Wheeler, who supervised six police child protection teams in north-west London at the time of Victoria's death. He received a formal caution - a less serious punishment than a reprimand.

 

 

Karen Jones

ACCUSATION: The PC with Haringey Child Protection Unit was criticised for doing 'nothing' to protect Victoria after she was taken to hospital. Later admitted failing to visit Victoria's home for fear of catching scabies.

 

WHERE IS SHE NOW? She has not been suspended and continues to serve with the Met. Briefly trained recruits at Hendon Police College on a £27,000-a-year salary, even lecturing trainee constables on child protection.

 

 

 

Comment: PC Karen Jones who refused to visit the eight-year-old girl's home for fear of catching scabies, received minor rebukes following misconduct hearings

 

 

Ruby Schwartz

ACCUSATION: A part-time consultant at Central Middlesex Hospital, she was also head of child protection yet ruled Victoria's injuries were due to scabies. Accused of 'failing to assess the evidence available to her' and not following 'established good medical practice'.

WHERE IS SHE NOW? Given a permanent £60,000-a-year job at the Central Middlesex Hospital in February 2002. Last September, charges of professional misconduct relating to Victoria's case were dropped by the General Medical Council. She was said to be 'relieved'.

 

 

Comment: Dr Ruby Schwartz, the consultant paediatrician whose failure to diagnose that Victoria Climbie was being brutally abused led to the eight-year old's return to the carers who were eventually to kill her. Dr Ruby Schwartz had misconduct charges against her dropped by the GMC in 2004

 

Social workers in tragic Climbie case to get £4,000 rise Daily Mail by ROSS LYDALL 24th June 2002

Social workers strongly criticised for their role in the death of child abuse victim Victoria Climbie are set to share in large pay rises designed to boost morale.

Haringey council is planning to give workers such as Lisa Arthurworrey and her manager Angella Mairs - both are suspended on full pay pending disciplinary hearings - a 12 per cent increase, meaning that some will pocket a £4,000 annual rise.

Managers in the child protection and youth offending teams will earn almost £50,000, making Haringey social workers the best paid in London.

Two other Haringey social workers, Heather Phillips and Nicola Joseph, failed to report bloody handprints and the smell of blood in a flat they visited to collect a child who was going into care for the weekend.

It later emerged that the child's father, Momadou Ceesay, had killed his wife Fatou and she lay dead in the bathroom. Both employees have been exonerated by the council and will also receive the pay rise.

T he increase is to be extended to all Haringey's social workers rather than just those working with children - where it has proved difficult to recruit staff - because council chiefs don't want to upset their colleagues.

Last month the Government gave Haringey a "zero rating, designating it as one of the least effective departments in the country. The council's failing social services department was placed under "special measures by the Government in January 2001.

The decision to increase social workers' pay, due to be approved by councillors tonight, will cost Haringey residents more than £4 million over the next two years, and is likely to force the ruling Labour-run authority to break its pledge not to raise council tax bills next year.

Takki Sulaiman, Haringey's lead member for social services, said that the "blue sky plan would mean that newly qualified employees would receive an extra £2,000 with managers getting £4,000.

He said it would be wrong to hold back the increases, due to become effective in September, just because staff such as Ms Arthurworrey and Ms Mairs would share the benefit.

"I'm not going to stop the improvement in social services because of that reason, he told the Evening Standard.

"I can't allow that to be part of my consideration. If we don't get this right now the Government will intervene in Haringey social services in six months.

He said that a report fro m the Social Services Inspectorate, due out next month, would show that Haringey was improving in many areas. But there remained a need to halt a high turnover of staff and to recruit experienced employees from other councils.

"If we get more staff in posts and you know that there are high-quality people working next to you whose long-term careers are dependent on getting things right, then that boosts morale. You only get what you pay for.

But opposition Liberal Democrat leader Lynne Featherstone said: "We have to make sure that we are not just throwing money at a problem to be seen to be doing something.

"There's the danger that staff already employed in social services may get more money even if they are not up to the job.

Ms Arthurworrey, who was the last social worker to see eight-year-old Victoria alive, claimed at the official inquiry into her death that she was being made a scapegoat for the chaotic management of her department and said she had abandoned hope of returning to her career.

Victoria's great aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, w ere both convicted of her murder in February 2000 and jailed for life. Daily Mail