A 6ft 2in "selfish bully" has been jailed for life for the murder of his partner's 15-month-old daughter.
ETC.........
Number of child cruelty cases rising
9:31AM GMT 18 Dec 2002
The death of Ainlee Walker resulted from one of the worst cases of child cruelty ever seen in Britain.
The death of Ainlee Walker resulted from one of the worst cases of child cruelty ever seen in Britain.
Despite contact with social services, the two-year-old, was tortured and starved to death, bearing disturbing similarities to the case of murdered child abuse victim Victoria Climbie.
Dozens of other children have been killed through cruelty, and major inquiries have been held since the 1973 death of Maria Colwell. Earlier this year, a public inquiry into the Climbie case showed damaging evidence of gross negligence and systematic failure in the child protection system The inquiry was told that warning signs went unnoticed and smokescreens were thrown up by Victoria's killers - her great aunt Marie Therese Kouao and Kouao's lover Carl Manning - to cover their tracks.
Eight-year-old Victoria was starved and beaten with coathangers and bicycle chains. She died of hypothermia with 128 injuries on her body in February 2000 after being trussed up naked in a bin bag and forced to sleep in a freezing bathroom.
A Home Office pathologist who examined her body said it was "the worst case of child abuse I have encountered".
Kouao and Manning are both serving life sentences for the murder.
In 1973, the death of seven-year-old Maria Colwell became a landmark case in social care. She was taken to hospital in a pram by her mother and step-father where she was pronounced dead from severe bruising and internal injuries. Her stomach was empty.
Maria was known to the NSPCC and the then Children's Department and neighbours repeatedly reported her being beaten and bruised. She was seen at various times by an NSPCC inspector, a social worker, a doctor, an education welfare officer and a housing officer.
There had been 30 calls from concerned neighbours to local social services from a single telephone box at the end of the road at their Brighton home, and numerous visits from social workers.
The public inquiry that followed Maria's death led to major changes in the systems designed to protect children from abuse, but the list of victims of cruelty and neglect continued to grow.
In 1984 Tyra Henry, aged 22 months, died two days after being left at a hospital under a false name with 50 bite marks on her body. Her father Andrew beat both Tyra and her mother Claudette, who had been out on the night he launched the final assault.
Despite a previous decision that she should not do so, Tyra was allowed to live with her father when he was discharged from prison.
Before her birth he had assaulted her six-month-old brother, Tyrone, so viciously that the boy was left blind, permanently brain damaged and in care.
Four-year-old Jasmine Beckford died in 1984 after she was systematically starved and beaten by her stepfather Maurice Beckford while her mother looked on. Jasmine's social worker visited 78 times in 10 months but saw her just once.
Brent Social Services in north-west London placed her with foster parents after the department became concerned about abuse, but the courts sent her home.
Another tragic victim was Kimberley Carlile, four, who was beaten with a belt, scalded with water and burned by cigarettes in 15 different places.
Social workers who came to check on her were only allowed to peep through a glass panel at the top of a bedroom door. She died in 1987. Her stepfather, Nigel Hall, was given a life sentence for murder.
Louis Blom-Cooper QC, who chaired the inquiries into the deaths of Jasmine Beckford and Kimberley Carlile, recommended that an all-powerful Child Protection Agency be set up to deal with abuse cases.
He said the agency would help resolve the damaging division of labour and responsibility between several competing services.
Eight-year-old Victoria was starved and beaten with coathangers and bicycle chains. She died of hypothermia with 128 injuries on her body in February 2000 after being trussed up naked in a bin bag and forced to sleep in a freezing bathroom.
A Home Office pathologist who examined her body said it was "the worst case of child abuse I have encountered".
Kouao and Manning are both serving life sentences for the murder.
In 1973, the death of seven-year-old Maria Colwell became a landmark case in social care. She was taken to hospital in a pram by her mother and step-father where she was pronounced dead from severe bruising and internal injuries. Her stomach was empty.
Maria was known to the NSPCC and the then Children's Department and neighbours repeatedly reported her being beaten and bruised. She was seen at various times by an NSPCC inspector, a social worker, a doctor, an education welfare officer and a housing officer.
There had been 30 calls from concerned neighbours to local social services from a single telephone box at the end of the road at their Brighton home, and numerous visits from social workers.
The public inquiry that followed Maria's death led to major changes in the systems designed to protect children from abuse, but the list of victims of cruelty and neglect continued to grow.
In 1984 Tyra Henry, aged 22 months, died two days after being left at a hospital under a false name with 50 bite marks on her body. Her father Andrew beat both Tyra and her mother Claudette, who had been out on the night he launched the final assault.
Despite a previous decision that she should not do so, Tyra was allowed to live with her father when he was discharged from prison.
Before her birth he had assaulted her six-month-old brother, Tyrone, so viciously that the boy was left blind, permanently brain damaged and in care.
Four-year-old Jasmine Beckford died in 1984 after she was systematically starved and beaten by her stepfather Maurice Beckford while her mother looked on. Jasmine's social worker visited 78 times in 10 months but saw her just once.
Brent Social Services in north-west London placed her with foster parents after the department became concerned about abuse, but the courts sent her home.
Another tragic victim was Kimberley Carlile, four, who was beaten with a belt, scalded with water and burned by cigarettes in 15 different places.
Social workers who came to check on her were only allowed to peep through a glass panel at the top of a bedroom door. She died in 1987. Her stepfather, Nigel Hall, was given a life sentence for murder.
Louis Blom-Cooper QC, who chaired the inquiries into the deaths of Jasmine Beckford and Kimberley Carlile, recommended that an all-powerful Child Protection Agency be set up to deal with abuse cases.
He said the agency would help resolve the damaging division of labour and responsibility between several competing services.
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