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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.
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