It's Not Just Babies!

A couple beat and starved a vulnerable man to death after he was sent to live with them by social workers, a court heard. Rubin Blount, 28, resembled a 'walking skeleton' in the weeks before his death and was seen scavenging for food in bins, it is claimed. When he died he weighed just seven stones and had suffered multiple rib fractures, a fractured spine and cigarette burns, jurors were told.

How did he end up with them? Well, Reader, of course it's social services, who are giving Nazi camp guard and train signalling staff a run for their money in the 'sending people to their death' stakes. The only different thing here was they did it to an adult. 

She told jurors that Newton was a 'sort of step-brother' to the victim, having been raised by Mr Blount's father. But she said the defendants - who were described in court as 'recovering drug addicts' - kept Mr Blount in their council house 'for their own financial benefit' and abused him 'for their own fun and kicks'.

because everyone knows that recovering drug addicts are just as responsible as gay men! 

The court was told Mr Blount, who had a low IQ and learning disabilities, spent the first 20 years of his life living with his parents Eric and Jeanette Blount, until there were 'some concerns' in 2015 which led to him moving in with the defendants.

out of the frying pan and into the fires. Did they do any due diligence at all? 

Miss Josephs said : 'It was agreed with all including social services that he would move in with the defendants.The court heard James managed his finances and bank card, receiving £1,100 in benefits for all three of them into Mr Blount's account. The walls of their 'disgusting' house, which had no heating, were covered in mould and stank of urine, Miss Josephs said.

Guess that’s ‘no’ then! 

 Miss Josephs told jurors: 'You may have questions or concerns about how it is he was left to live with these people…without any ongoing support. 

'These may be valid questions, but they are for another day.

And don't bother asking them, they've probably already written their statement, with promises to 'learn lessons'. they have form, after all.

What's 'Harrowing', Graham, Is That You Are Blaming The Wrong People...

A two-year-old girl who drowned in a bin containing 9cm of water in a back garden in east London was a victim of “gross failures” largely by social workers, a coroner has concluded at an inquest.

Really? Let's look at the facts, shall we?

At the time of her death, Mazeedat Adeoye was being cared for in Dagenham by an acquaintance of her mother, Balikis Adeoye, who had to stay in hospital with Mazeedat’s baby brother when he required urgent heart surgery.

Adeoye had asked social workers at Newham council if they could provide foster care for her daughter for 10 days during the hospital stay. She had come to the UK on a visitor visa with Mazeedat in spring 2021 to join her partner but the relationship ended in May that year and she overstayed her visa, which expired in September 2021, because she had no means to return home. She was not eligible for state support, a status referred to as “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF).

Yet she was soaking up public funds with the baby's hospital stay, wasn't she? And wanted more, of course. Thankfully, the social workers - for once - weren't having any.  

The NRPF team at the council declined to provide foster care and told Adeoye to look for someone “in her community” who could look after her daughter. A woman from a local mosque agreed to take care of the child until Adeoye and her son left the hospital.

The senior coroner for east London, Graeme Irvine, found that while playing alone and inadequately supervised in the woman’s back garden, Mazeedat fell head first into a plastic refuse bin that contained water. Despite the water’s depth being no more than 9cm, Mazeedat drowned. Irvine described the case as “particularly harrowing”.

Well, I sort of agree. If she'd been deported the moment she overstayed her visa, we wouldn't be here right now, wasting yet more taxpayer cash on this inquest. And castigating social worker who, for once, did their job.  

This is the first death of a child thought to be linked to NRPF. In his conclusion, Irvine said: “There was a missed opportunity to provide effective care in the form of an offer of a temporary fostering placement which would have probably resulted in the avoidance of Mazeedat’s death … Local authority children’s services failed to support Mazeedat.” He said some of the social workers who failed to support the family were “obdurate and stubborn”. “Balikis Adeoye was treated in a dehumanising way on account of her status in the UK,” the coroner said.

We had no obligation to spend more money on her. We were already spending enough!  

Juliet Spender, a human rights lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, representing Adeoye, said: “There were several opportunities to ensure an appropriate foster placement was put in place for Mazeedat. Sadly, we believe, these opportunities were missed with devastating consequences. It’s now vital that lessons are learned from this tragedy to protect children in the future.”

Might I suggest 'immediately deporting visa overstayers' in future Juliet? Or would that impact on that hose of taxpayer cash pumping into your chambers in legal aid? 

'Red Flag? OK, Here's Our White Flag...'

The trial of Deveca Rose has started, and throws new light on why four children died in a burning house:

...social services had been working with the family but closed the case after Rose failed to co-operate, jurors have heard.

Damn, that's it? Must try that at work: 'Sorry boss, it's getting a bit tricky to do this task, can I just skip it?' 

Darren Woodhams, a fire investigator for the London Fire Brigade, found the fire started from a either a discarded cigarette or an upturned tea light, which set fire to rubbish on the floor and then a sofa in the living room. The fire spread due to the amount of rubbish on the floor, the court heard. Jurors were shown photographs of the floor of the living room which was covered in rubbish 20cm deep and littered with human excrement.

And children were living in it. While social workers washed their hands of responsibility. In any normal world, the state of the house and the refusal to co-operate should have been grounds for more action, not less.

Giving evidence to the jury today, Mr Woodhams said: 'There was a smoke detector on the first floor landing however this was found to be inoperable and had no battery.'

Rose is not in court as she has an issue with her eyes and is observing the trial via a link from a room with lower lighting.

Once again, the inversion of the justice system, treating the alleged perpetrator as a victim. 

We've Heard It All Before...

A campaigner for children in care has warned that 'lessons must be learned' after 'yet another child was lost to Britain's broken care system'. Chris Wild told MailOnline that the murder of ten-month-old Finley Boden must serve as an urgent wake-up call for ministers to support the 'underfunded' care sector.

Oh, so this child died because there was no money to save him? Really? How did he come to die, then?  

Tragic Finley was murdered by his drug addict parents on Christmas Day in 2020...

Ah. That old old story. 

...just 39 days after being returned to the care of his mother and father Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden.

I fail to see how this is a case of lack of funding, and not simply yet another case where hopeless optimism had resulted in people who shouldn't be trusted with a goldfish given back a child. 

A damning review into the lead-up up to baby's murder said Finley 'should have been one of the most protected children in the local authority area' but found 'significant shortcomings' in plans for him to be reunited with his parents.

And how did lack of funding lead to this? Because this chap is certain that's the source of the problem. 

Responding to the report, Mr Wild, who lost his father at the age of 11 and grew up in the care system, told MailOnline: 'Yet again another child lost to our broken system.

"Lessons must be learned" yet no one seems to be putting these words into action.

'Unfortunately we can point the finger in the Finley Boden case and it points directly to an underfunded sector that fails to prioritise the safety of children even when all the evidence clearly shows this could have been prevented.'

But not by throwing yet more cash at it. By people doing the actual jobs they are paid to do. 

'We need more Social Workers back in our communities and not behind a desk looking at data all day.

'Children are not KPI's. And due to the lack of resources mistakes are made and yet again we have another tragic story when it could have been easily prevented. Children in care are still children.'

How about 'If you're a drug addict, you don't get to raise a child, ever!' as a mission statement?  

It also emerged that Finley was also handed back to his drug addict parents at a 'pivotal' court hearing against the advice of social workers which was held remotely over the telephone because of the Covid pandemic.

So the social worhkers were overruled by yet more of those female justices we were told we needed to 'humanise' the justice system?  Because it turns out that that's exactly who is mainly responsible, and gives the lie to the squawks of 'More funding!' on the part of the social workers' mouthpiece here. 

A report was submitted to the court by Amanda O'Rourke, Finley's guardian from Cafcass, the independent Children and Families Court Advisory Service, which was appointed to represent his best interests. Despite acknowledging his parents drug use and domestic violence, she argued that he should be handed over to them within six to eight weeks because they had 'clearly made and sustained positive changes.' The final decision was made by two magistrates, Kathy Gallimore and Susan Burns, who were assisted by a legal adviser.They also ruled that Marsden and Boden did not pose an 'unmanageable risk' to their son.

Whoops! OK, ladies, everyone has a shocker occasionally, why should it call into question your qualifications for the job, eh? 

The magistrates also did not order any further drug tests of his parents, despite requests from the local authority, and he came into their care on 17 November.

Maybe they should face more than just ridicule and censure by public naming? Maybe they should face dismissal from the bench at the very least? 

It's OK, Stephanie, They Have The Answers Down Pat...

Stephanie, 33, said social services 'will have a lot of questions to answer', adding: 'It makes you stick sick to your stomach to think what Alfie might have been subjected to behind closed doors. Why didn't social services do more before it was too late?'

After all, they've had so much practice over the years, haven't they?

The family was known to social services - not least because Howell had an order in place preventing him from staying at the house, which he routinely flouted. Neighbours also made repeated calls to police after hearing screaming and crying coming from both inside and outside the family home.

A safeguarding review will now explore what more could have been done to save Alfie.

The people in charge of preventing these cases should have done their jobs. There. That's your review. 

And if it seems like déjà vu, well, it's what's always said in cases like this, as the people in charge of preventing cases like these scramble to distance themselves: 

Det Ch Insp Harding said the case had not been referred to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC), because it "did not meet the criteria", despite officers' contact with the family.

If this didn't, what would? Maybe those criteria should change? 

Nigel Huddleston, MP for Mid-Worcestershire, described the case as "absolutely horrendous". "We must endeavour to learn lessons from Alfie's murder to help ensure that such a horrific event never happens again," he added.

Keep that phrase somewhere, Nigel, because I'd bet you (or some other MP) will be trotting it out again at the next preventable child murder. Just remember to cross out the name 'Alfie', eh? 

The Bitch Is Back...

I was sacked from my position as Haringey’s director of education and children’s services by the then secretary of state for children, Ed Balls, on live TV. This was less than a month after Peter’s mother, her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s brother were convicted of “causing or allowing” his death. I was closely followed by four social workers and a paediatrician from Great Ormond Street children’s hospital (GOSH). The scapegoating and vilification of me and other social workers in this case and others has had many unintended consequences.

Yes, guess who? 

You'd think she'd want to fall back into welcome obscurity, but trust the 'Guardian' to offer her a platform...

Other agencies involved in such cases have sophisticated strategies to avoid blame and protect their reputations. In the case of Peter’s death, Balls, Haringey council, Ofsted, GOSH and the Metropolitan police all benefited from having a convenient scapegoat to take the blame for wider and more complicated failures.

How, exactly, since they were all censured along with you? You even admit a paediatrician was sacked too! 

...crucial information was not revealed at a stage when it may have made a difference to the social workers.

Like you'd have sprung into action if only evidence had been shoved right under your nose... 

The public pressure and opprobrium continued for months, until 2009 when Peter’s mother’s boyfriend, Steven Barker, received a life sentence for the rape of another young child, bringing closure to the public narrative. However, the legal scholar Margaret Jervis has suggested that the investigator’s reliance on a very young child witness, alleging a crime several years in the past, casts doubts on its veracity and on the conviction itself.

Wait, what..? Are you seriously defending a paedophile? What happened to 'believe the child'?

I don’t wish to reattribute blame. Rather, I want to draw attention to the potentially serious consequences of blame avoidance in powerful institutions, and how rapidly others can be scapegoated – often with the help of the public and the media. It is time for the country’s 100,000-plus social workers to put an end to this. We must educate the public and politicians about the realities of protecting children. And when accusations come, we must fight our cases through the courts.

And lose them. 

Another Triumph For The World Of Social Work...

A teenager has been jailed for fatally stabbing a 16-year-old boy. Dylan Holliday was knifed 13 times in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, in August 2021.

Jamal Waddell, 17, was convicted of manslaughter...

Wait, what?!? 

...in August and was sentenced to 12 years in prison with four on licence at Coventry Crown Court on Wednesday.

Waddell, who can be named after the judge lifted an anonymity order, was also convicted of grievous bodily harm against Dylan's friend and of possession of a knife. He was handed 18 months for each offence, which will run concurrently to the manslaughter sentence.

Why the hell not consecutively? What's the point? This is as pointless as charging Couzens with indecent exposure when he's already doing bird for murder... 

Can it get any worse?

Reader, hold that thought:

The court heard the defendant, originally from Wellingborough and who turns 18 next month, had carried knives regularly from the age of 12.

It heard on the day of the attack, social workers had dropped him off in the town and were unaware he was armed.

*sighs* 

Waddell claimed Dylan was "swinging" an arm that was in a cast and that he struck out at the 16-year-old to "keep him away from me".

That might have worked for one knife wound. It's not going to fly with thirteen... 

Det Sup Joe Banfield, from Northamptonshire Police, said: "Sadly, this case once again demonstrates the danger of knives and Northamptonshire Police will continue to work relentlessly to remove these deadly weapons from our streets."

And the courts and social workers will work equally relentlessly to send them back to the streets. 

Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership said Dylan's killing would be subject to a child safeguarding practice review.

Ah. A whitewash in which everyone involved is absolved of responsibility, you mean? 

H/T: IanJ via email

They Aren't Like Buses After All...

...they are more regular than that. 

Barely a week has passed since the last abysmal child protection failure by the State's agents, and another one rolls up to the curb:

Five times social services were contacted by family and friends. Five times their concerns were dismissed. The police were involved in one of those five interventions and, on a sixth, they were contacted independently of social services.

It has all the hallmarks of the previous case, including the rat leaving the sinking ship ahead of the verdict... 

...ordinary members of the public will struggle to understand why Frankie Smith and Savannah Brockhill were given the benefit of the doubt time and time again.

Really? I think you might find they won't, since it appears to happen time and time again. 

With one - or two - unique wrinkles in this case: 

Not for the first time political correctness, it seems, played a part in all this. Social workers, the jury heard, accepted Smith’s story that the complaints were ‘malicious’ and down to relatives not approving of their same-sex relationship or Brockhill’s traveller background.

If only it wasn't the case that they accept excuses regularly from non-favoured groups, I might agree. But they do, so I don't. 

Maybe It's Time You Stopped Talking About 'Learning Lessons' And Actually Learned Them..?

Although further contact was made with Hughes by social workers after the photos were received, there was no more engagement with the family by the authorities.

Two separate referrals had been made at the same time by Arthur’s paternal grandmother; one to West Midlands police, and one to social services, with the latter relating to “unexplained” bruising to Arthur’s back.

It turns out West Midlands Police proved every bit as effective as the Met in the Baby P case. In fact, this case has startling echos of that case. 

“It’s certainly the worst [child abuse case] I’ve had to investigate,” said DI Laura Harrison from West Midlands police, who led the case. “We don’t often see what goes on behind closed doors, but on this occasion we did.”

Sadly, it was after the fact. Because despite the supposed 'tightening up' after Baby P, it's always too little, too late...and here come the expected case reviews: 

A review of the role of social services is under way, while an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct is expected to report back shortly.

Which will no doubt exonerate all involved, and blame covid, despite the fact that the only interest the police showed in holding anyone to account was when they got heavy with the relatives trying to get them to do thair job:

Arthur died on June 16, 2020 after suffering an 'unsurvivable head injury'. These are the four key chances the authorities missed to avert the tragedy:

ONE - Arthur's grandmother, Joanne Hughes, called social services on April 16 to say she had seen the youngster covered in bruises. However, social workers failed to spot them during a visit to his home.

TWO - On April 20, Joanne also told Arthur's school what she had seen. A member of staff called social services but was told the bruises had been caused by 'play'.

THREE - Arthur's uncle, Daniel Hughes, reports his concerns to police but is threatened with arrest if he tries to go back to the youngster's home.

FOUR - John Dutton, Emma Tustin's stepfather, makes an anonymous call to social services weeks before Arthur's death.

Having no doubt learned that contacting the police makes you the target... 

Solihull's £122,294 Director of Children's Services at the time, Louise Rees, 60, left in August before the trial began. Rees' LinkedIn profile boasts that she is now 'retired and loving it'.

Well, of course she is. She's a serial bolter, after all, as we now learn: 

The career civil servant also left her previous job at Stoke City Council, where she was the £140,000-a-year director of children and family services, a week before it too was lambasted for serious failings.

It's deja vu all over again, isn't it? 

A Quick Perusal Of Her Social Media Would Have Clued You In...

A social worker has been struck off for sending sexual selfies to a teenage boy in her car and telling him that she was in love.

Georgia Thomas, 26, from Swansea, South Wales, engaged in 'sexual activity' with the 15-year-old boy in her care and sent him a string of sexual text messages.

What? A social worker? One of those grey people in sensible shoes and cardigans? What attraction could they possibly have to a fif...

 Oh...

The disciplinary panel heard the breaches took place in August to October 2018 while working as a child care worker for the Athena Group in Swansea.

Miss Thomas did not attend the hearing held via Zoom but the panel concluded her behaviour was 'dishonest and lacked integrity' and her fitness to practise was impaired.

A bit more due diligance would perhaps have ensured she wasn't hired in the first place...but no doubt someone thought she was the idea role model for a teenage boy or girl. 

She was handed a removal order banning her from working in social care in Wales.

Only in Wales..?!? 

Because Social Workers Have A Better Reputation For Competence?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt could be the model of a modern movie star...

Hmmm, this is in the 'Guardian', so....OK!  

...it’s the politics that get Gordon-Levitt really animated. Project Power was mostly shot in 2018, before the killing of George Floyd and the mass Black Lives Matter protests in the US. He has clearly anticipated the issue: “It means something different to be playing a police officer now than it did in 2018. But, on the other hand, it’s nothing new at all. These same exact tragedies have been happening my entire life.”

Have they really? 

He talks at length about the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1991 and the US’s long history of racial injustice. He voices his support for Black Lives Matter and the principle of defunding the police, but also his appreciation for the hard work that most police officers do.

Funny how all these luvvies can speak chapter and verse about the beating of Rodney King, but I bet if you asked them if they remembered the beating of Reginald Denny, they'd look blank... 

“There are these situations when individuals in the police force do awful, terrible, unspeakable things that they need to be held responsible for, but maybe cops are assigned to handle too wide a variety of things. Maybe in a lot of cases it would make more sense for a social worker to show up instead of a guy with a gun.”

It's a toss up who does more damage, actually! 

Why The Leniency..?

Curphey jnr, 53, who claimed she had cleaned her mum with tea tree oils and didn't know about the sores, denied gross negligence manslaughter.

However, a jury unanimously found her guilty of the charge today after just two hours of deliberation, following a three-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

When the verdict was returned Curphey jnr, also of Lydford Road, yelled out "how could you do this to me?" and "you're lying" at shocked jurors.

Just another day in a Liverpool courtroom, surely?

The defendant, who had been permitted to sit outside of the dock because she has autism, then fled the courtroom, followed by her defence counsel.

Judge Andrew Menary, QC, asked the jury to retire before she was brought back into court, screaming hysterically, and taken into the secure dock.

Wait, how exactly was someone so clearly unfit allowed to care for an elderly woman anyway?

Speaking after the case, Pascale Jones of Mersey Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service said : “This was a challenging case. The circumstances of the death met by Teresa Curphey were tragic.

“Her daughter, over a period of months, had declined offers of help from neighbours, social services and claimed to be the sole carer for her mother.

“She even decided to change her mother’s medication, in the belief she knew better than the doctor. She was the only person in the house to witness the deterioration of her mother’s health."

And if she's incapable of sitting in the dock, how was she judged capable of caring for an elderly woman?

Shouldn't the social services staff be the next ones in the dock?

Clearly, It Was Not 'Your Approach'...

A Surrey County Council spokesman said: 'We are defending this claim, however we acknowledge this has been a very difficult time for Mr and Mrs Jones and their family.

'We place a high value on openness with all our foster carers, share information about any risks with them from the outset and continue to keep them informed. This was our approach with Mr and Mrs Jones.'

Pity you didn't tell them about the fact you'd asked them to foster someone who'd pledged allegiance to a terrorist organisation.

Slipped your mind, did it?

This Actually Explains A Lot Of Social Work Failures...

A mother-of-one asked a friend if she had ever held on to an automatic garage door as it opened moments before she was dragged into its rollers and died, an inquest heard.

Social worker Heidi Chalkley, 40, was pulled into the mechanism of the metal shutters in an underground car park in Ruth Bagnall Court, Cambridge after she took hold of it with her arms.

*boggle*

Ms Chalkley was described as a 'beautiful, successful and accomplished young woman', who was 'highly intelligent and driven'.

Objection, your honour!

It added: 'Without her this world is a much colder place.'

But the average IQ went up. So it's all good.

What Happened To 'In Vino, Veritas', Judge?

David Munro, defending, said: 'She was under pressures by the time of this regrettable and unfortunate incident.

'She's 42, a woman of good character, who came from very difficult beginnings.

'She has managed to carve herself two successful careers, working as the manager of a care home that was closed due to financial constraints.'

Hmmm. that bit doesn't sound very 'successful', eh?

'She is now working part-time trying to assist young people settle after they leave the care of the local authority, but it is almost certainly an occupation that's going to be lost following the hearing today.'

Really? She's a social worker. They rarely face any consequences when children in their care are murdered. I very much doubt getting bladdered and fighting outside work hours will be beyond the pale.

And the racism's of the right sort.

'This was an evening which went horribly and sadly wrong. A number of events had conspired to cause her to lose control. It was one of those nights when one thing led to another.'

One vodka led to another, and another, and...

Mr Munro explained that Khan's closest friend had died, and she was due to speak at the funeral the next day, and her mother had a congenital heart problem.

And did her pickup truck fail to start and her dog run away? If so, I think we've got the making of a great country hit song!

Sentencing Khan, Judge Cooke told her: 'I accept you were at a very low ebb. You failed at all to moderate your alcohol consumption, even though you were in charge of your own son.

'Once you were paralytic you engaged in some extremely anti-social and obnoxious behaviour.

'But to deal with this appalling night proportionally there is no requirement that you lose your liberty at all. I accept it was drink talking, not the way you generally feel about white people.'

*hollow laughter* Yeah, sure...

'You work in an enormously valuable field of social work where you have done sterling work for the community.

'I don't know what the effect on your employment will be, but I trust those who have to make the decision take account of the significant damage your career has already suffered, and that I take the view that this is entirely out of character.

'It would be a loss to the public if you were not able to continue in the field in which you have put such a lot of public service.'

Why don't you give her a fiver out of the poor box for a taxi home too?

What Do You Have To Do To Be 'A Bad Mother' In This Country?

Gemma Procter, 23... had a history of heavy drinking from the age of 16 and smoked cannabis daily and took amphetamines every other day, a court heard. 

...

(Procter) had undergone an abortion and she became convinced God was speaking to her and started to display bizarre psychotic symptoms and attending the local Abundant Life religious centre.

On 21 October last year, she was at her high rise home, in Newcastle House, Barkerend, with Elliot, her mother Deborah Ashington, her eight-month-old daughter and two other girls aged eleven and six.

Prosecutor Kama Melly QC told Bradford Crown Court that Procter had only smoked one joint that day, but after dancing around the flat in a red dress, which exposed her body, she told her mum she felt 'free and at peace'.

And that's when she threw her 18 month toddler Elliot out of the sixth floor window. In front of the other children.

Simon Kealey QC, defending, said Procter had suffered a 'sudden deterioration' in her health which could not have been foreseen.

No, clearly the drinking, drug taking, loose morals and sudden religious psychosis were no clue at all...

Proctor wept in the dock during the proceedings which were disrupted from members of her family in a packed public gallery, prompting The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC to threaten them with contempt if they continued.

We aren't enlightened by the press as to what the commotion was all about. Presumably they were upset that she wasn't being awarded 'Mother Of The Year'.

Sentencing Procter to a hospital order, Judge Durham Hall told her paranoid schizophrenia had struck her like a volcanic eruption.

'The primary victim is Elliot, but the second victim is you,' he said.

'No one had the remotest premonition you would do what you did.

'I am absolutely satisfied that nobody, including yourself, had any concerns or pre-warning that you could or would do what you did.

'Your offending, I am satisfied, was due to this extreme illness. The harm is off the scale, but the culpability is not.

'Nobody thinks that you were ever a bad mother and you were never a bad mother to Elliot.'

I guess if she'd ever denied him ice cream, the social services would have acted. But she didn't, so was free to murder him instead.

I get the idea of compassion for mental illness, truly, I do. But this - this description of a drinking, drug taking benefit monkey as 'a good mother' - is so out of kilter it's obscene.

'Parent Of The Year 2007' Gets Off To An Early Start...

Mr Garside also said the woman has had two previous cases of child neglect in 2011 and she admitted it again in 2015 but went on a training course to avoid prosecution.

Maybe someone should ask for their money back?

Oh, wait. That's the taxpayer's money, isn't it?

Elizabeth Aisbitt, mitigating, asked for the case to be stood down for reports.

Reports about what? What more do you need to know? Can't you use the same reports they produced the last couple of times?

“She admits her house is a bit scruffy and there were seven years’ worth of empty alcohol bottles and cans in her kitchen but does not think this is would be detrimental to her son.”

What do you have to do to be considered an unfit mother these days?

"Even the name of his cat cannot be published for legal reasons."

Ain't the Great British Justice System.....errr, great?

Mrs Kirk, who has a daughter and four grandchildren who she regularly cares for, is understood to have been given a last chance to change her mind after her sentencing. She refused, and was arrested at her home in Sussex a fortnight ago.

Her former husband Chris Kirk said she called him at 11pm to say police were knocking at her door.

‘After that she simply disappeared,’ he said. ‘I could not contact her. I asked the police if they could tell me what had happened, but they said they had no information and if I was worried I should report her as a missing person.’

Wouldn't that constitute 'wasting police time'? Well, perhaps they wanted to get two dangerous criminals* behind bars...

*people who refuse to bow to the will of State minions

Maybe I'm Cynical, But This Is Too Much To Swallow...

The social services boss at the centre of the Baby P scandal says she worries people will try to kill her when she travels on the London Underground.

How? Knife, strangulation?

“Because I’ve been back in the media, even when I came here today, I was in the Tube station and right back against the wall.

“And then when I changed tube, I was still aware that people might recognise me again.

“I don’t go on to the platform when the Tube’s not there. I stay right back in the corridor until it comes in. I don’t go anywhere near the edge.”

Hmmm, I'm not too sure how getting your picture printed in the 'Evening Standard' helps with that, love!

"Make sure you get my good side!"

And...just why are you in the media again? Why are you determined to get your phizzog in all the papers, if you have a genuine fear..?

Oh, wait. That's right. You have a book to flog, don't you?

And you know just how to bait the newspapers into giving you free publicity, don't you?

There Must Be Some Sort Of Social Worker Kryptonite…

…that causes them to suddenly lose the draconian powers they are happy to wield against others:

Eight-year-old Dylan Seabridge, who was home-educated, was rushed to hospital after collapsing at his home in Eglwyswrw, Pembrokeshire, in December 2011. His parents, Julie Seabridge, 47, and her husband Glynn, 48, were charged with child neglect but the Crown Prosecution Service later dropped proceedings against them. Now it has emerged that concerns about his welfare had been raised more than a year before his death, and while education officials visited the Seabridges, they had no power to see Dylan.

And of course, they are now demanding 'something must be done!'. Not about abusive parents, or hopelessly incompetent officials, but about homeschooling.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that this is a target the State has had in its sights for some time...

A draft serious case review report leaked to BBC Wales said Dylan was effectively “invisible” to the authorities and concluded that rules on home education needed to be strengthened as a matter of urgency.

Yes, of course they do. Did they perhaps have this draft waiting for just the right case to come along?

District crown prosecutor Iwan Jenkins said: “It is our view that Julie Seabridge is unfit to face criminal charges on health grounds.

“In relation to Glynn Seabridge, our conclusion is that it is not in the public interest to pursue a prosecution against him … these are related to concerns about his health and the likely effect of a prosecution on him, as well as the nature of the case and the likely penalty that a court would impose in the event of a conviction.”

So the real criminals go unpunished, while thousands of parents who homeschool their children find the State turning its beady eye on them.