“Why Won’t The Authorities Be A Parent To My Child!”

The dad of a murdered 14-year-old schoolboy in Lee has slammed “failings” in the Met, social services and at his son’s school during a two-month hunt for the missing teenager.

Right, OK. Were they the only ones?

The Crown Wood College pupil, who lived with his mother Clemence Mudage in South Norwood, and commuted to Eltham, had been missing for two months before the attack.

Kevin’s father Sewa Ssali, who says failings emerged during the trial, said: “There were a lot of failings and we would like to bring that to light to avoid anything like that happening.

“There were a lot of mistakes made, by the police, by the social services, by the school.”

But not by the lad’s parents, I presume? Perish the thought!

The 55-year-old, who temporarily lives in Lee High Road, claims his son turned up at school shortly after he went missing but his family were not told and he was allowed to leave again.

He said: "They just let him walk out of the school. Nobody knew where he had been staying for that week. What kind of responsibility was that?"

Well, it’s not like they can stop him, is it? And maybe they weren’t even aware he was missing…

Family friend Clive Knight says his family told Greenwich Council the missing boy was staying in Barnfield Gardens, Plumstead, but claims nothing was done. The 60-year-old said: “My niece told somebody at Greenwich social services exactly where he was and then a week later the poor boy was dead.

“Nobody did anything until it was too late.”

I’m confused – if the family knew where he was staying, in what sense was he ‘missing’? And how can you forgive the killer, and blame everyone else?