Throughout the period social workers were dealing with Ms Crilly, they told her she could not allow her new partner Chadwick to have any contact with Orianna under any circumstances.
But Mr Peacock inaccurately recorded that he was not to have ‘unsupervised contact’ with the baby - but denied ever saying this to Ms Crilly.
A mistake, yes, and one that should have been picked up. And god knows, social work is littered with mistakes that have led to totally preventable deaths. We've had not one, but two pretty recently.
But before we start writing placards and gathering torches to march on the council HQ...
Despite his apology, though, Coroner Catherine McKenna decided against engaging Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights - a statute protecting citizens’ right to life from state agencies. Engaging this article would have meant Wigan Council could have been held accountable for failing to sufficiently protect Orianna.
Ms McKenna took the decision because, while people acting within the state system had not followed procedure correctly, she found it was not a failing of the system itself.
And why? Because over and above all, this was a failure of the child's mother:
'Even if a plan was in place, Chelsea would have retained care of Orianna. 'She did not believe allegations against [Chadwick], I cannot find it would have led to a cessation of contact.
'Even when Orianna was undergoing neurosurgery [following the attack] she could not believe the offender would cause her harm.'
So, any punisnhment should rightly be coming her way, yes?
Ms Crilly, the baby's mother, was cleared of causing or allowing Orianna's death following a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
*blinks*
Addressing her, Ms McKenna said: 'Chelsea, you are the person most deeply affected by her death.
'You have shown great courage attending this inquest. You have conducted yourself with remarkable dignity.
'Ultimately, the responsibility comes with the offender. He and no one else took her life. I hope you can draw comfort from Orianna’s memory.'
I'm speechless. She's praised for attending the trial of the brute that murdered her child, instead of spending time behind bars for her part in it?
Any 'system' that can be compromised by a single human error is inherently fallible. Because it is well known that people make mistakes. So, bollocks that it's not a failing of 'The System'.
ReplyDeletePussy Pass?
ReplyDeleteBlimey, they're both white. He looks like a moron. She looks Oirish somehow, or is that because she shares her surname with Father Ted?
ReplyDeleteIt's unfair that he is in prison - he should be in the ground. It's unfair that she walks free. Let's hope that the medical procedure she attended was a sterilisation.
It's also unfair that the Social Services dept gets away with their neglect.
Social work is a thankless task. Get one thousand referrals which are handled correctly-not news. Get one wrong and it's all over the headlines (like policing I suppose). But where my sympathy wanes is when I remember every Friday at 4pm they would ring the police and tell us about the vulnerable people they had neglected to visit during the week who now are not their responsibility until 9am Monday morning. If they come to harm over the weekend then that's my job gone.
ReplyDeleteJaded
"Any 'system' that can be compromised by a single human error is inherently fallible."
ReplyDeleteWith this sort of system, surely some sort of computerised scoring of risk should be emplyed?
"He looks like a moron. She looks Oirish somehow..."
Yes, it's strange how they never look like ordinary people. If only that were some sort of 'clue'...
"Social work is a thankless task."
Lots of jobs are. Surely the good ones, though, go into it for something more than public acclaim?
"But where my sympathy wanes..."
Mine would too, if I had any in the first place...