Jessica Randall aged 2 Months
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Plymouth Social Services Social services blunders allowed baby death MP's anger over baby death report 13 February 2008 BBC News Social services blunders allowed sadistic father to murder his 54-day-old baby girl Daily Mail By CHRISTIAN GYSIN 14 February 2008 A baby girl murdered by her sadistic father could have survived if health and social workers had taken action over signs of ill-treatment, a damning report said yesterday. Jessica Randall was just 54 days old when she died. Her brief life was dominated by systematic and horrific abuse at the hands of her 33-year-old father Andrew, who was jailed for her murder last year. Yesterday's report found that both social workers and hospital staff failed to classify her as a child "at risk", even though concerns over her safety were raised a number of times. Jessica was seen on ten separate occasions by up to 30 healthcare professionals, including doctors, health visitors and nurses. Staff at her local hospital noticed her "crying and twitching" unnaturally. She had scratches on her cheek, nose and mouth and suffered from vomiting and breathing difficulties. Her parents missed two GP appointments without explanation but this was not followed up. There was also concern about the mental health of her mother, a schizophrenic, and a lack of bonding between the baby and her parents. But the first the police knew of the case was when they were called to Jessica's home in the early hours of November 22, 2005, and found her dead. A post-mortem discovered skull fracture, with bruising and bleeding on the brain, and nine broken ribs. She was also underweight and undernourished. Some of her injuries were at least a week old. Her father admitted sexually abusing Jessica, forcing his fingers down her throat to make her choke and stamping on her chest. She died after he threw her against the hard armrest of a sofa at the family's flat in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Randall is now serving a life sentence – the judge said he should never be released. Jessica's mother Sharon Park, now 30, did not face charges. The report from the Local Safeguarding Children Board for Northamptonshire – made up of medical officers, council workers and police – said: "At no stage was Jessica Randall recognised as a child at risk and in need of protection. Consequently, those procedures which were designed to protect her were never activated. "In recognising that opportunities had been missed to identify signs of abuse we must conclude the outcome may have been different had these signs been acted on, as this would have created opportunities for assessment and involvement of other agencies by activating protective procedures." Denise McMahon, director of nursing and midwifery at Kettering General Hospital, described Jessica's death as a "collective failure". The hospital's medical director, Dr Brendan O'Malley, admitted failures in the system for assessing children who may have been abused. But he said tests to establish whether Jessica had been injured by violent shaking had come back negative. Dr O'Malley said: "When Jessica was first presented to us, she was twitching and the doctor felt she was probably fitting. "He felt there were several possibilities for the diagnosis behind this and he set a range of investigations in motion. "He organised a chest X-ray and an MRI scan, but they came back negative. "He also did a specialist examination for haemorrhaging at the back of her eyes, but this also came back negative." Dr O'Malley admitted there was no "extensive account" in the doctor's notes of why he thought there was the possibility of abuse. He added: "The system was there, but the problem was that it had not been triggered. "The lesson that we have learnt is that we need to raise people's awareness of what has to trigger off referral to making a child at risk." Staff at the hospital are undergoing retraining. The board's report pointed out that Randall did not have a criminal record and there was nothing in his medical records to suggest he was a danger to his daughter. At his trial in March last year, Randall was said to have been obsessed by horror films since he was 12. He also fantasised about serial killers. Jailing him for life, Judge Charles Wide told Northampton Crown Court: "I am quite satisfied there was a sexual element inextricably bound up with the violence. "Even if it were not, one can only look at the aggravating features of this case – a tiny child, abuse lasting the whole of her few weeks of life, the murder and the culmination of continual acts of abuse, premeditated in the sense of being daily thought about, and the most gross breach of trust one can imagine, a father murdering a tiny, vulnerable, utterly dependent baby." The case is the latest in a string of child tragedies, which have produced a string of reports supposed to prevent the same thing happening again. The most notorious case was that of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie, who died in January 2000 after being beaten, starved and tortured by a relative and her lover. In July 2002, nine-month-old Perrin Barlow died of neglect at his mother's squalid flat in Plymouth, despite repeated visits by social services. In February last year the sadistic parents of a disabled four-year- old girl were jailed for subjecting her to unspeakable cruelty under the noses of social workers. Baby Jessica: Story Of Abuse Little Jessica Randall was brutally beaten and murdered by her father Andrew when she was just 53-days-old.The baby, born with a congenital heart defect which would have needed surgery, had suffered a catalogue of abuse from almost the day she left hospital. Here is a timeline of events in her short life: September 29, 2005: Baby Jessica is born five weeks premature at Kettering General Hospital. Her mother, Sharon Park, suffers from schizophrenia. Jessica has a congenital heart defect and is suffering respiratory problems. Staff on the maternity unit notice a lack of bonding between both parents and child. October 10:The family leaves hospital and takes Jessica home. October 13: A health visitor makes a first appointment at the family home in a flat in Havelock Street, Kettering, in order to assess the living environment for the young family. October 15: Jessica is taken to an out-of-hours doctor suffering what are said to be "abdominal pains". October 20: The family health visitor from the local primary care trust raises concerns that Jessica has failed to regain her birth weight. October 24: A GP appointment for Jessica is cancelled. November 3: A health visitor makes a home visit, only seeing Sharon Park and baby Jessica. During the visit, Jessica is examined by the visitor, who raises concerns about her mother's mental health. In the early hours of the following day, Jessica is taken to Kettering General Hospital A&E with vomiting and diarrhoea. November 6: Jessica goes back to A&E and is said to be suffering from gastroenteritis. A GP appointment is made for her but she does not attend. November 7: At 8.45pm, Jessica is taken to Keydoc medical services in Kettering due to noises with breathing, choking and coughing. She is examined but she was not stripped naked during the examination. The on-call doctor notes circular scratches around her cheek, nose and mouth, which could have been up to seven days old. Her mother tells doctors the injuries could have been self-inflicted, possibly by her lying on her dummy. Social services are told of concerns after a doctor is worried about the mother's ability to cope both mentally and intellectually. November 8: Jessica is taken to hospital suffering "strange crying and twitching". November 9: Jessica is taken to the Drylands Medical Centre in Kettering with twitching in her left eye. She is referred to Dolphin Ward at Kettering Hospital where eye tests are carried out. Tests find no retinal haemhorraging. November 15: Jessica is discharged from hospital. Nursing staff again express concerns about the lack of bonding between parents and child and again refer them to social services. November 17: Two days after Jessica is discharged, the health visitor makes a "full examination" of Jessica, stripping her naked, and notes nothing abnormal, except stating that her mother is now interacting more with her. Sharon Park is heard to say "I would never let anybody harm you" but the visitor thinks no more of it. November 21: At 8pm, Sharon Park goes to bed with a headache, leaving Jessica with Randall. He later tells police he holds his hand over her mouth in order to keep her quiet. He later throws the tiny child into a hard armrest of a settee. November 22: At 12.30am, police and paramedics are called to the flat on Havelock Street, Kettering, where they discover Jessica's very pale and very cold body. Despite attempts by medics Jessica is pronounced dead. Results from a post-mortem examination at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre find Jessica had nine fractures to her ribs, bruising and bleeding on the brain. She was underweight and undernourished. Head and other injuries suggest "a high impact". November 23: Randall is arrested and charged with murder. Sharon Park - his 29-year-old partner - is released without charge. November 29: In police interviews, Randall tells officers he sexually abused his daughter and he would put his hand over her face to stop her breathing. Abuse included him forcing three fingers down her throat so she choked. At times she was held by her feet and hands while being twisted and pulled in a wringing motion. Randall admits that on more than one occasion he stamped on his daughter's chest. November 16, 2006: Almost a year after her death, Randall admits murdering baby Jessica. His court hearing is told he fantasised about violence and having power over women since the age of 12. He is remanded into custody for psychiatric reports, with the judge warning him he faces the possibility of a whole life sentence. March 13, 2007: Randall is jailed for a whole life term at Northampton Crown Court for sexually abusing and battering to death his seven week old daughter. May 2007: An inquiry into the care of Jessica by local health workers is due to publish its report. |
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