Bradford officials knew of cruelty three years before little Hamzah starved to death - report

Hamzah Khan, whose body lay undiscovered in his home for almost two years, was “let down both before and following his death”, the report has ruled.

A Serious Case Review into the case of Hamzah, whose decomposed body was found in a cot in his mother’s bedroom in 2011, said his death “could not have been predicted”.

Bradford Council said no individual was responsible for failing the little boy and that no-one would lose their job.

The report revealed that just two months before Hamzah was discovered, his mother tried to falsely persuade school workers that he and three other children were living in other parts of the country.

• Timeline: The short, tragic life of little Hamzah

But within minutes of the review being published, Children’s minister Edward Timpson said he had “deep concerns” about its analysis and that the report had some “glaring absences”.

Professor Nick Frost, Chair of the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board expressed his “sincere regrets and sorrow” about the death but said he could not be sure a similar tragedy would not happen again.

He said: “The death of any child is a tragedy and the fact that Hamzah’s body was undiscovered for a long period makes his death even more tragic.

“It is imperative that all agencies with safeguarding responsibilities, in Bradford and nationally, learn any lessons from his death and the fact that it was undiscovered for so long afterwards.”

Prof Frost added that the review “is very clear that Hamzah’s death could not have been predicted but finds that systems, many of them national systems, let Hamzah down both before and following his death.”

And he said: “Very sadly I cannot give any assurances that a tragedy like this will never happen again in our country - as we can’t control or predict the behaviour of all parents, the vast majority of whom are doing their very best to care for their children.

“However, I can assure you that at this stage I am satisfied each agency is responding adequately: but this is an on-going process which requires constant monitoring.”

Mr Timpson said in a letter to Professor Frost: “I have deep concerns over the Hamzah Khan serious case review.

“In particular, I am concerned that it fails to explain sufficiently clearly the actions taken, or not taken by children’s social care when problems in the Khan family were brought to their attention on a number of occasions.”

Mr Timpson said the report contained “glaring absences”, such as failing to note whether Hamzah’s siblings were assessed by social workers at various stages before 2011.

He wrote: “It is tragic beyond words that by the time a health visitor did trigger concerns about the whereabouts of the younger children in the household, who were missing from health and education services altogether, Hamzah Khan was already dead.

“It is essential that answers to the questions above are put into the public domain so that the people of Bradford and the public are reassured that you have been clear enough about the past to ensure that such mistakes will not be repeated in future.

“I look forward to hearing swiftly how you intend to provide these answers.”

Asked about the minister’s letter, Prof Frost said he will be responding to Mr Timpson’s “constructive questions”.

He said: “We will respond fully. We want to share information. We want to be transparent.”

Bradford Council’s director of children’s services Kath Tunstall said she welcomed the minister’s intervention and said his “stringent questions” would help in the process of learning lessons for the future.

Ms Tunstall also defended a briefing she gave to Bradford MPs after Hutton was jailed in which she appeared to imply social services had little contact with the family.

She told a press conference in Bradford that no serious child protection concerns were raised about the Khan family.

Under repeated questioning, Ms Tunstall said: “There is no evidence in the information that’s been considered that says that an individual was responsible.”

She said no-one in her department will be losing their job over what happened.

Asked whether he would be ordering a new report following the minister’s comments, Prof Frost said: “We are going to answer the additional questions the minister asked.

“He’s asked me a number of questions. I will make sure those questions are responded to.”

The report revealed that in July 2011, two months before Hamzah was discovered, school attendance service workers started making enquiries about why he and three siblings had not been enrolled for education.

Hutton tried to persuade them the children were living outside Bradford with relatives. The report said: “Various places in the South of England were mentioned and inquiries made with another local authority that had no information; the children were never living outside Bradford.”

Though maternity workers recognised some of Hutton’s “vulnerabilities in regard to depression” this was attributed to ‘baby blues’.

There was no “concerted exploration” of her depression or any other problems relating to the size of her family and she was never asked about whether she suffered domestic abuse.

Prof Frost admitted that one of Hamzah’s siblings “could have been listened to more carefully on the two occasions where it was mentioned that all was not well in the family”.

It was revealed that Hamzah’s sibling made a complaint of physical and emotional abuse in May 2007 but it was interpreted by social workers as “teenage angst” rather than something more serious. He spent two nights in emergency accommodation before being returned back to the family home by the end of the month.

Earlier, when Hamzah was one-and-a-half, one of his older siblings had gone to police complaining that both Hutton and her partner, Aftab Khan – father to all eight children – had assaulted him.

Police tried to arrange safe accommodation with Bradford children’s social care, but they were unable to find a placement and the boy returned home.

Prof Frost said Hamzah’s siblings appeared to be content when questioned about their home life at school.

He added: “The review also finds that remarkably the siblings appeared well and cared for – but sometimes they did not. This inconsistency could have been explored more fully.

“Further mother was inconsistent in her stories about where Hamzah was following his death. Again some of her statements could have been followed up more fully.”

He said: “In my 35 years of involvement in children’s services I have never come across a case that can even be compared to this one.

“As the serious case review establishes this was a unique combination of events: a mother who was determined not to co-operate even with the most necessary and essential services.

“She managed to mislead professionals and relatives about the whereabouts of Hamzah.”

Nancy Palmer, the independent chair of the review, said: “It is important to be clear that Hamzah died because he was neglected by his mother.”

But she said: “A significant finding in this SCR is the extent to which Hamzah was unknown and invisible to services throughout his short life.”

She said this was “largely because” neither of his parents took part in the routine activities such as seeing health professionals or enrolling at nursery that the vast majority of parents do.

Ms Palmer said: “This meant none of the various organisations that came into contact with the family had enough information to form a view about what life was really like for any of the children in this household, especially during the last few years.

“With the benefit of hindsight, the overview report provides a perspective not always available to professionals at the time that they were working with this family.

“For example, Amanda Hutton was able to care effectively for her older children, which made it more difficult for professionals to give proper weight to indications that her care for the younger children was inadequate, and becoming dangerous.

“Even in the later stages considered by the review, the presentation of the children was inconsistent, with significant tooth decay being noted in one child, but during the same time period another child being noted to have new clothes, neat appearance and healthy packed lunch and snacks.”

George Galloway, Respect MP for the area of Bradford where Hutton and her family lived, said: “We are expected to believe from this review that despite numerous inquiries and alerts, from neighbours, the involvement of the police, teachers, social services - a whole multiplicity of agencies - despite the obvious signs from the house, the smell which was overpowering, the state of the other children, that the death of Hamzah Khan could not be predicted.

“Well, what could be predicted, and I did, is that those investigating this deeply sad and troubling death would thoroughly coat themselves in whitewash, which they have done.

“Hamzah’s mother is responsible, but he has been failed not just by those who should have been there for him but those who are now attempting to cover it up.”

Referring to Prof Frost, Mr Galloway said: “He blames a system failure, as if no human had any involvement in creating, implementing or monitoring the system.

“We need a thorough, independent and urgent inquiry into this catastrophic failure and all of those involved in signing off on this charade removed from any future involvement. It’s more than a serious case for concern, it’s a serious case for reform.”

• Timeline: The short, tragic life of little Hamzah

Mother-of-eight Amanda Hutton, 43, was jailed for 15 years last month after she was found guilty of the manslaughter of her son, Hamzah.

Bradford Crown Court heard how alcoholic Hutton was living in “breathtakingly awful” conditions with five of her young children as well as Hamzah’s mummified remains when shocked police entered the four-bedroom house in September 2011.

A jury found she had allowed Hamzah to starve to death in December 2009 and left his body in a cot with a teddy.

The remains were only discovered due to a rookie police community support officer’s tenacious pursuit of a minor anti-social behaviour complaint because she knew something was wrong.

The serious case review, ordered by Bradford Safeguarding Children Board, is expected to address the question of whether any one could realistically have predicted or prevented Hamzah’s death and why he was not missed for so long.

From information already made public, it is clear the family was known to all the main agencies yet Hutton had a history of failing to co-operate with services that could have helped her.

The jury in her trial heard about a range of visits to her home by different professionals, including police officers, health visitors and a social worker.

But nobody picked up on the danger Hamzah and his five school-age siblings were in. Hutton eventually admitted neglecting these youngsters.

There were no medical records on Hamzah from the age of two weeks until he died, aged four and a half.

Hutton’s family was also mentioned at three multi-agency meetings because she was classed as a high-risk victim of domestic violence from her partner, Aftab Khan.

Khan, who is Hamzah’s father, was convicted of battery against Hutton following an incident in December 2008 - a year before his son’s death.

He asked the interviewing police to go to see Hamzah because he was undernourished and claimed he was going to contact social services.

Khan told the jury trying Hutton that he made that call but there is no record of it and a senior police officer said Khan’s claims were followed up but nothing was found to be amiss.

West Yorkshire Police said they shared information about all their engagements with Hutton with the social services department.

The court was also told how one of Hutton’s neighbours alerted social services to her concerns about the family six months before Hamzah’s body was found.

The woman set out her worries about the house next door in a text that talked about children crying and not being comforted, abuse being shouted, Hutton smelling of vodka, children never playing out and blinds always being down.

She finished her text explaining her actions to a friend by saying: “Better to be safe than sorry.