NSPCC is accused of Climbie cover-up

One of the country's most respected children's charities was accused of altering documents yesterday to cover up its failure to save Victoria Climbie from abuse and death.

Lord Laming's inquiry into one of the worst child abuse cases in Britain was told the eight-year-old was referred to the NSPCC's Tottenham Child and Family Centre seven months before her death. It took a week for her case to be assessed, it was claimed, because staff were preoccupied organising an office party.

The charity initially provided the inquiry with a photocopy of a document relating to Victoria's case, which had all staff names erased and a note at the bottom stating "accepted for ongoing service".

When the chairman demanded the original be produced, a second – apparently identical form – was handed over. It, however, read "no further action" on the bottom. Lord Laming described the inconsistencies as of "great and widespread concern".

There have been public suggestions that Victoria's initial referral papers may have been changed after her death in February 2000 to explain why nothing had been done to help.

A spokesman for the inquiry added: "Lord Laming takes these allegations extremely seriously and will consider them in full before proceeding with his final inquiry report."

Earlier, Sylvia Henry, an NSPCC social worker who had been assigned Victoria's case, was accused of adding a note to the file after her murder in "an effort to explain away the fact that you had done nothing with this referral for months and months and months?"

"No, I dispute that," she replied. Ms Henry had noted that she had contacted North Tottenham social services, who told her the family had moved out of the borough and the case was closed. Social services denied the conversation took place, pointing out the family were still being seen by the department in December 1999 – four months after the NSPCC referral.

Yesterday the charity said: "Despite suggestions to the contrary, we have found no evidence of deception or falsification of NSPCC records."

Outside the hearing a spokeswoman added: "This case was not referred to the centre as child abuse – nor did the information given present a full, accurate picture of Victoria's situation.

"However, it did raise some concerns which the NSPCC fully accepts should have alerted the centre to the possibility that she was at risk of harm and that more appropriate action could have been taken."

The NSPCC family centre, which was described during the inquiry as a "shambles", closed in March 2000.

Victoria suffered a "miserable and lonely" death, having been "imprisoned, beaten and starved" for months on end by her father's aunt Marie Therese Kouao, 45, and her partner Carl Manning, 28, at a flat in Tottenham, north London.

The two of them were able to inflict terrible injuries – 128 at the time of her death. When they were jailed last January for life for murder, the Government launched an "urgent" inquiry into how four authorities, two police child protection teams and two hospitals had failed to save Victoria.