Kimberley Carlile aged 4
Over thirty home visits by Social Workers
June 8, 1986
Child Death Reports (PDF)
Kimberley Carlile, four, was starved and beaten to death in Greenwich. Her
stepfather, Nigel Hall, received a life sentence for her murder while her
mother was given 12 years' imprisonment for assault and cruelty. Hall
frustrated attempts by social workers and health visitors to investigate. But
an inquiry found that her death was avoidable and concluded that four key
social work and health staff in Greenwich failed to apply the necessary skill,
judgement and care in her case.
Report
The death of four-year-old Kimberley Carlile prompted Mr Justice Steyn, who,
after a nine-day trial had heard the most appalling evidence of her suffering,
to tell the couple responsible: "In the sordid annals of child abuse your
crimes are uniquely wicked". He then passed a life sentence on Nigel Hall for
her brutal murder and 12 years imprisonment on Pauline Carlile for grievous
bodily harm, assault and cruelty.
When Kimberley died on 8 June 1986 she was little more than skin and bone. She
was starved, dehydrated, covered in bruises and weighed only 24lbs - half the
body weight of a normal child her age.
For the final months of her life she had been kept prisoner in a bedroom at
her stepfather's maisonette on an estate in South London. She had become so
desperate for food she had eaten her own faeces.
In the final hours of her life she had been tortured with 15 cigarette burns
callously administered along her spine. She was then kicked in the head so
Violently it caused a haemorrhage under the skull. A post-mortem also
discovered bruising around her genitals and a scar on her buttocks that had
been caused by a red hot instrument. Social services immediately wrote to the
Carlile family offering help. Within a week Hall had stormed into the local
social services office and warned startled social workers to keep their
NSPCC
Almost a year later Pauline remarried a man well known to police in the
north-west of England as violent and involved in drugs. Social workers warned
that the children could be at risk. Pauline subsequently had her jaw broken by
her second husband and Kimberley and her brother and sister were taken into
voluntary care with foster parents on the Wirral.
On Christmas Eve1984 Pauline Carlile fled to a women's refuge after death
threats from her second partner, and met Nigel Hall on a railway station in
Liverpool. Their relationship developed and they soon set up home together in
Ktdbrooke, south-east London. Kimberley had been born in Birkenhead on 3
November 1981. She was the youngest of Pauline Carlile's then three children.
The oldest was a boy of four and Kimberley had a two-year-old sister. When she
was only seven months old the Carlile family came to the attention of 'Wlrral
Social Services after Pauline complained her first husband was being violent.
Together with her children, she went to live at a women's refuge. Two months
later Kimberley's natural father died of a cerebral haemorrhage after falling
over in the street. But Wirral social workers reported that Pauline Carlile
appeared to be coping well as she returned home with the children. Amid the
outrage that followed the case, Greenwich social workers were accused of
abandoning Kimberley. The Panel of Inquiry set up under barrister Louis
Blom-Cooper to investigate the circumstances that surrounded the death of
Kimberley Carlile concluded in its 290-page report:
"Kimberley Carlile's death was avoidable through the intervention of the
welfare agencies". It was hardly surprising. Her last Christmas - six months
before her death - was spent padlocked in her room for "being naughty". She
was freezing cold and was given only a sandwich and a glass of water for her
Christmas dinner as her brother and two sisters played with their new toys
nearby. On one of the coldest days of the year, shortly afterwards, neighbours
were astonished to see her outside the home wearing just her vest and
knickers. Neighbours had heard screams and pitiful weeping coming from the
bedroom and had telephoned warnings to social workers. Pauline Carlile was
later to tell police that, despite her tender age, Kimberley had told her
towards the end of her life that all she wanted to do was die.
The Old Bailey jury was satisfied that Hall had inflicted the terrible
injuries and rejected Kimberley, apparently because she was a strong-willed
child who refused to accept him as her new father. Pauline Carlile, 27 at the
time, had defended herself in court by claiming she was afraid that her other
three children would be taken from her if she reported Hall's violent abuse of
the defenceless child.
Later that year Pauline removed the children from foster care - where they had
been happy and had thrived - and they moved south to be reunited with their
mother at her new home in Kidbrooke. At first all seemed well. Greenwich
Social Services was asked to monitor the family because of Pauline's decision
to take Kimberley and the other two children out of care and go to live with
Hall. They had just had their first child together, Pauline's fourth.
Social services neither required the children to have medical examinations nor
asked to see Kimberley without the winter clothing that covered her from head
to foot. The bruising underneath remained concealed. Kimberley was allowed to
leave the office in the arms of the man who was shortly to kill her.
A month later a health visitor visited the family but was not allowed to see
Kimberley. At the same time Pauline Carlile's eldest child, the boy now aged
seven, told a teacher that Hall was "throwing him around" at home. The
education welfare service alerted Greenwich Social Services, who agreed the
family should be closely monitored.
By December neighbours were becoming increasingly disturbed by the distressing
sounds coming from the home. Unknown to anyone outside the family, Kimberley
was now being locked in her room for hours on end. Her" crimes" were mainly
bed wetting and standing up to the bullying Hall.
NSPCC
Out of Sight
Two months later - and three months before Kimberley died - a woman phoned
social services anonymously and told of crying and terrible piercing screams
coming from the Carlile flat. Two Greenwich social workers were dispatched to
the home but Carlile and Hall refused them access to the children. A team
leader decided to go himself but also got no answer. He left a letter warning
the couple that if they didn't allow social workers or health visitors to see
the family, he
would call the police.
On 8 June Carlile was doing the washing-up when she heard Hall shout out. She
rushed upstairs to find him holding a lifeless Kimberley in his arms. Hall
told her she had fallen down the stairs. The subsequent post-mortem by Dr
Michael Heath made grim reading. He gave the cause of death as "traumatic
subdural haemorrhage" due to an injury to the left temple, consistent with a
heavy blow - almost certainly a kick. There were numerous bruises all over her
body. In fact, she appeared yellow because old bruising suffered at the hands
of Hall had faded, leaving widespread discoloration that gave her a jaundiced
appearance.
Hall reacted to the letter by phoning social services and admitting he was
having problems with Kimberley. She was wilful, had fallen down the stairs,
was wetting herself and making herself sick, he complained. The next day Hall
arrived with the entire family at social services and asked the social worker,
"Why is Kimberley so disturbed?" Hall even admitted hitting her and the social
worker noted she looked "withdrawn, sallow, pasty and still" .Dr Heath also
found three recent injuries around Kimberley's ears. She had been literally
lifted off the ground by her ears causing the tissue behind the ears to tear.
Her hymen was inflamed together with an inflammation of the opening of the
vagina on her vulva. Although the injury suggested sexual interference, it was
impossible to prove she had also been sexually abused. The inquiry decided
that Kimberley had been abused incessantly for at least nine months before her
death.
Child Death Reports (PDF)
