Tragedy of baby killed by father

Sep 13 2008 by Hilary Clixby, The Journal

A TOP judge has criticised the social services system after hearing how a baby girl was shaken to death by her bullying father.

Judge David Hodson said the death of five-month-old Alisha Allen occurred in circumstances where there had been “undoubted failings” within the two departments involved with her welfare.

He told parents Gary Allen and Claire Morton direct responsibility for Alisha’s death lay with them and them alone.

But he said the couple were in need of “as much help as they could get” from social services and other agencies, but had not received that necessary help. Had they done so, he said, “this tragic case might have been avoided”.

Alisha had been placed on the child protection register even before she was born because of concerns about her mother’s parenting skills, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

It was also known by the authorities that both parents had learning difficulties and Allen also had problems controlling his temper, the court was told.

Paramedics were called to the couple’s home in Marigold Crescent, Bournmoor, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, in January last year after receiving a report Alisha had been “fitting”.

There they found the injured child, who was taken by ambulance to Sunderland Royal Hospital before being transferred to Newcastle General Hospital where she died from brain damage.

Morton told police Alisha’s crying had woken Allen up and as a result he “had been in a mood” and when the baby cried again he went upstairs to see his daughter who was in her cot. She said she had then heard both a “weird cry” from Alisha and a loud bang.

Allen, 26, of Torrens Road, Thorney Close, Sunderland, admitted manslaughter at an earlier hearing on the basis he killed Alisha by shaking her in a sudden loss of control.

Morton, 31, of Pinewood Street, Fencehouses, near Chester-le-Street, had admitted causing or allowing the death of a child by failing to take the steps she could reasonably have been expected to take to protect her daughter from risk.

Allen, was jailed for five years and Morton, who said she had lived in fear of Allen, was sentenced to 52 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for two years.

The findings of a Serious Case Review launched after the death of Alisha has yet to be made public.

Passing sentence, Judge David Hodson said: “This case, sadly is yet another example of the tragic death of a baby in circumstances where there have been undoubted failings within two social services departments.”

He told Allen and Morton: “It can fairly be observed that here, certainly, were two people who needed as much help as they could be given by social services and the various agencies and it has to be said you did not receive that necessary help.

“If you had, this tragic case might have been avoided.

“But again, it has to be said, the direct responsibility for Alisha’s death rests with you two defendants and no-one else.”

The judge said he was in “absolutely no doubt” Allen had subjected Morton to physical and emotional abuse and that he had been threatening, bullying and violent towards her.

Morton began a relationship with Allen in June 2005 and social workers became aware at the end of that year she was pregnant with his child and Alisha was placed on the child protection register even while she was in the womb. Morton moved out of her mother’s Sunderland home and by the time her daughter was born on August 8, 2006, the couple were living in Marigold Crescent and the case was prepared for transfer from Sunderland to Chester-le-Street Social Services, said Paul Sloan, QC, prosecuting.

At a child protection case conference the following month at Chester-le-Street, it was decided that Alisha’s name should not be placed on the Child Protection Register, but instead dealt with as a “child in need” with the family being offered support and advice.

Allen had also maintained Alisha was “aggressive” because she had occasionally “bitten” her mother and pulled her hair.

Mr Sloan said Morton, who has an IQ of around 70, also told how Allen had left her with the brunt of the child care, refusing to change the child’s nappies or bathe her and once waking her up by blowing a horn in her ear and then laughing. Franz Muller, QC, defending, said a “lack of robust management” by social services had meant Alisha had not received the protection she required and there had been a failure to share information and a lack of “informed decision-making”.

He said there was no one failing in the case but rather a series of accumulated errors that were either not picked up or actively addressed.