Five children left to starve were 'failed by care workers'

A depressingly familiar picture of poor communication between childcare agencies has been depicted by a report into how five children were left to starve in what one doctor described as "the worse case of malnutrition" he had seen outside the developing world.

A number of agencies in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, were aware of factors that should have caused concern at the home of David Askew and Sarah Whittaker, both 24, who were jailed last year for neglecting the children in a housefurnished with state-of-the-art electrical appliances . But the potential impact of the factors was not appreciated because no single agency co-ordinated the approach or pooled available information, the report by Professor Pat Cantrill said.

Paramedics and police found emaciated one-year-old twins critically ill in the home - one within hours of death - when called out in 2004 by Whittaker, who had reported one of the twins was "lifeless". The twins and the three other children, aged three, four and seven, were in excrement-smeared bedrooms; live maggots were found in the nappy of the worst-affected twin and both were about 40 per cent of the weight expected for a one-year-old. The three-year-old boy was found locked in his room wearing soiled underwear and huddled in a corner.

Professor Cantrill, a former assistant chief nursing officer at the Department of Health, said that a number of potential signs of concern about the family were known to teachers and health workers, and that police and a health visitor had visited in the three months before the twins were found.

"It was the failure to recognise the accumulation of information about this family that underpins the inability to assess their needs," she said. Another basic problem was the low expectations by professionals of childcare skills in the community where the family lived, and the failure of teachers and health workers to mark out any of the children's problems as exceptional, she added in the report, published yesterday.

Professor Cantrill, who made 59 recommendations, said it was "unacceptable" that professionals working in deprived areas should have a higher "threshold" before action was taken, due to the general problems in the community.

"Seeking to defend inaction by stating that this family was one of many providing no level of care to their school-age children, and certainly not the worst, is not acceptable," Professor Cantrill said. "No child should have to experience such a level of neglect before services become sufficiently concerned to assess their need for support."

The eldest child's school and city health services were best placed to have raised concerns, the report found. Teachers were worried about the girl's attendance and a referral was made to the city's Education Family Support service, but it was not followed up.

Alan Jones, chairman of the Area Child Protection Committee, which commissioned the report, said the incident was the worse case of child cruelty in living memory in Sheffield, and all the report's recommendations were accepted.

The twins are reported to be "miraculously" back to full health.

A history of failings

* 1973 MARIA COLWELL, 7

Beaten to death by stepfather, despite 30 calls from neighbours to social services.

* 1986 KIMBERLEY CARLILE, 4

Starved and beaten to death by stepfather. Inquiry found social work and health staff failed to apply the necessary care.

* 1992 TONI DALES, 3

Died from head injuries after being thrown against a wall by her mother's lover. Report cited failure by social services, health, police, education and probation services.

* 1992 LEANNE WHITE, 3

Beaten to death by her stepfather; 107 injuries. Inquiry found social services failed to respond to reports she was at risk.

* 1997 LAUREN CREED, 5

Thrown downstairs and jumped on by her stepfather. Inquiry showed failures from probation officers, social services, police and health authorities.

* 2000 LAUREN WRIGHT, 6

Died from a blow by her stepmother. Inter-agency co-ordination found to be 'ineffective".

* 2000 VICTORIA CLIMBIE, 8

Starved, beaten and trussed in a bin bag. She had come into contact with social services, housing departments, police, hospitals and an NSPCC family centre.