Star Hobson murder: Stripping of council's children's social care powers shouldn't be 'kneejerk reaction'

A Government review by an independent commissioner into whether children’s services should remain in the remit of the council is due to report in January, the Department for Education confirmed this week.

The leader of Labour-controlled Bradford Council, Susan Hinchcliffe, and its chief executive Kersten England have both faced calls to resign after it was revealed that social services had been alerted to the potential abuse of the Keighley toddler five times.

Star’s mother’s partner Savannah Brockhill was sentenced to life in prison earlier this week for the child’s murder in September 2020.

Frankie Smith, Star’s mother, will serve eight years after being convicted of allowing Star’s death.

Social services were contacted by extended family and friends of the child, including by her great-grandmother and her babysitter, with concerns that Star was being abused, but no action was taken against either Brockhill or Smith.

Bradford Council’s children services were first deemed inadequate by Ofsted in 2018.

Nazir Afzal, the former chief crown prosecutor for the North West, said: “If the evidence supports that as an interim measure, control needs to be taken from the council, then absolutely.

“But it shouldn’t be done as a kneejerk reaction. My team prosecuted on the Baby P case - and this is what we do.

“The first thing that happens is people want heads to roll, and the second thing that happens is we try to re-engineer the whole system. The third thing then is that social workers leave the profession because they feel people don’t trust them - and then more children end up being killed by their carers that before.

“I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want us to get heads to roll - I want them to improve what they’ve got and base it on best practice.”

Mr Afzal said he was concerned that the lack of action by social services may put off members of the public from reporting suspected abuse.

He said: “We used to be a really good nation of good neighbours, who looked out for not just our children but children next door. If you were aware of concerns, you’d share them without worrying if you’ve got it wrong or not.

“I’d rather people if they are concerned about the welfare of a child report it either to the NSPCC or to the police or to Children's Services. And let them investigate.

“What you think you saw added to what somebody else may have seen might actually be the bigger picture. Don’t have misplaced loyalty. Put the child’s welfare first.”

The Bradford Partnership, which includes the agencies which had contact with Star during her short life, said on Tuesday: "We need to fully understand why opportunities to better protect Star were missed."

The safeguarding partnership said a review into the case will be published next year, but that it "deeply regrets" that "not all the warning signs" were spotted.