Police are facing serious questions about their handling of concerns over the
welfare of a troubled family which ended with a baby and toddler being stabbed
to death, apparently by their mother.
The IPCC, called in to conduct an independent investigation, will ask why
officers took an hour to arrive on the doorstep after an alarm raised by a
health professional about the mother’s troubled state of mind.
While the officers, who initially found the house deserted and locked, were out
and about searching, Jael Mullings, 21, was able to slip home with the two
children, Romario, aged two, and his three-month-old brother Delayno, and
allegedly stab them to death in the abdomen.
Their bodies were found by a family member in the three-bedroomed council house
in the inner city Cheetham Hill area of Manchester shortly before 6pm on
Wednesday. They were, the family member said, “beautiful and innocent”.
Their mother, who was seen to be behaving in an erratic and distressed manner
earlier in the day, was initially arrested on suspicion of murder but has since
been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
It emerged that Ms Mullings was known to social services but she was not thought
to be a risk. Social workers were not currently working with the family.
The children’s father, who is separated from the children’s mother, said in a
statement: “This family had two beautiful, innocent children called Romario who
was just two years old and his brother Delayno who had only been born in July
this year.
“We, as a family, are struggling to come to terms with the tragic events of
yesterday afternoon and we cannot even begin to understand what happened.
Everybody is completely devastated. We hope that wherever the boys have gone to
they are at peace”.
The deaths have led to an anguished inquest by senior officers at Greater
Manchester Police. Detective Superintendent Shaun Donnellan revealed that the
initial alarm about the woman’s behaviour was raised by a neighbour after an
overheard conversation.
At 1.50pm police received another phone call from a member of the health
service, possibly a GP, expressing concern for the family’s welfare. An hour
later police officers rang the doorbell to find nobody at home, and a local
search proves fruitless.
In the following three hours there were sightings of the mother pushing the
buggy around the local area.
At 5.45pm police officers were at the children’s grandmother’s house, when they
were called by paramedics responding to an emergency at the house. The mother
was subsequently arrested “around the corner”.
Mr Donnellan said that the matter has been referred to the IPPC, the independent
police watchdog as a matter of course”.
He said: “This is a tragedy. There are two children dead. They appear to be the
victims of a fatal attack and the mother is being detained under the Mental
Health Act”.
He described the children’s family as close and loving, adding: “They are
shell-shocked. This is a lovely family, a fairly close family with two young
children who everybody doted on”.
Neighbours on the inner-city estate knew Ms Mullings as a woman who could be
abrupt but was regarded as a conscientious mother. She had only moved into the
council property earlier this year.
Witnesses saw her behaving in an odd and alarming manner in Cheetham Village, a
modern shopping complex, earlier in the day less than half a mile from their
home.
Sandra Barnes, 41, said: “I was in the village when she walked past me. She was
screaming and shouting at everybody. I could not understand what she was saying.
She was mumbling, and then shouting and screaming in people’s faces.
“I had never seen her that bad before. I have seen behave a little abruptly and
I think she could be a bit stern with the children”.
It is known that she and her child attended Fulmead Children’s Centre, a
Surestart centre nearby, for classes to aid the movement of babies who have
shown themselves to be slow to develop motor skills.
Mrs Barnes, who wept as she recalled hugging the baby during the classes, added:
“I have had that little boy in my arms and cuddled him. The children were always
well cared for. The little boy was chatty and bubbly”.
Melissa Bell, 23, said the killings were a “cry for help” by a trouble mother.
She said: “I think it is really sad. She is a lovely girl. Everyone said she
needed help but she never got any. It has got to be depression for her to do
something so desperate like that”.
A spokesman for the IPPC said: “We will be asking what the police were told,
what the concerns were, what the officers did, and decide whether there’s
anything there to take forward into an investigation.”
Pauline Newman, director of children's services at Manchester City Council,
confirmed that Ms Mullings was known to social services but that social workers
were not currently involved with the family. It was, she said, an appalling
tragedy.
She said: “In recent months the family were in receipt of community support
services including nursery and childminding provision, whilst mother was
attending higher education classes. I am currently involved with my senior staff
team in urgently considering the nature, extent, and appropriateness of
children's services' involvement with the family.
“This will be an important part of the multi-agency serious case review process
carried out by Manchester Safeguarding Children's Board. This results in a
review which is independently chaired, the product of which is an independently
written report under the statutory framework of 'Working Together'.”
