Council admits ‘considerable shame’ over children murdered by mum’s partners

A council has apologised over the deaths of two children who were murdered by their mother’s partners.

Northamptonshire County Council said it feels “considerable shame” over the deaths of Dylan Tiffin-Brown, two, and one-year-old Evelyn-Rose Muggleton.

A review by the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Board (NSCB) found there were “lost opportunities” as agencies overlooked the killers’ criminal past and history of abuse.

Dylan’s drug-dealing father Raphael Kennedy, 31, and Evelyn-Rose’s mother’s boyfriend Ryan Coleman, 23, were both jailed for life.

Dylan was killed in Northampton in December 2017, and Evelyn-Rose in Kettering in April 2018.

Sally Hodges, director of children’s services at the council, said: “We apologise unreservedly. We let this little boy [Dylan] down and we deeply regret that more was not done to protect him from his violent and abusive father.

“The tragedy which occurred in December 2017 and the events running up to it are a matter of considerable shame for this organisation,” she added.

The NCSB report decided agencies “failed to fully appreciate the significance of [Kennedy’s] chronic history of domestic abuse and extensive history with the police for drug-related offences”.

That, combined with high levels of sick leave and staff turnover also contributed to the missed opportunities, leading NSCB chair Keith Makin, to conclude “agencies need to improve information-sharing within their own organisations as well as between partners”.

Two social workers had been allocated to the case of Evelyn-Rose, the NSCB said, which had started to “drift, with little if any attention being paid to the children’s welfare”.

The review pointed to missed opportunities with police involvement, including Coleman breaching his community order by returning to Evelyn’s mother’s home after being bailed to a non-specific address after initial questioning.

Coleman, who had a “significant” criminal history, offended again but a risk assessment was not followed up.

Ms Hodges said: “For our part in this failure and for the poor decisions made within social care, we are truly sorry. We let this child down.”

“There is simply no excuse that agencies failed to share information amongst each other which, if put together earlier, would have led to a far more realistic picture of the risks this child was facing.

Mr Makin said: “This is another extremely distressing case in which a young life has been taken.

“Agencies collectively failed to share information that may have built up an overall picture of low-level neglect that would have ensured more effective intervention than what actually happened.”

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Blatchly, head of Operations at Northamptonshire Police, said elements of the reports are “deeply troubling”.

(c) Sky News 2019: Council admits ‘considerable shame’ over children murdered by mum’s partners