Life-of-squalor baby died after social workers failed to heed danger alerts

SOCIAL workers twice failed to take action to save a baby's life, despite police and colleagues from another council warning them he was in danger, an inquest heard.

Seven-month-old Alex Barker was not fed properly by his parents, and they only got medical help when he was found not breathing in a carrycot with a jumper over his face.

The baby died three days after he was admitted to Sheffield Children's Hospital, and a hearing in the city was told he had been living in filthy and chaotic conditions.

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It emerged the baby's father, Andrew Barker, had previously been investigated by police and social workers in West Yorkshire who had passed on their concerns. Barker, 27, and the baby's mother, Bethany Goldthorpe, 23, lived with Alex and their two-year-old daughter in Winn Gardens in the Middlewood area of Sheffield.

Coroner Chris Dorries heard the children lived surrounded by rubbish, soiled nappies and dog excrement, but social workers did nothing to help them.

After his death Alex was found to have suffered a string of "non-accidental" injuries, including crushed and fractured ribs and a broken arm caused by twisting.

Mr Dorries heard the authorities in Sheffield had been contacted by those in West Yorkshire about accusations over Barker injuring a son he had by another woman.

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Carol Shaw from Kirklees Council told the hearing: "Social workers at that time felt that on balance Mr Barker was likely to have been the perpetrator of those injuries."

However, this was ignored by Sheffield Council social workers who visited the family, and two investigations were closed when it was that decided nothing was wrong.

While the baby was not properly fed, community grants and benefits had been spent on luxuries like a hydraulic leather bed, a car and an Xbox games system.

The couple did not even have a steriliser for Alex's bottles and the hearing was told a witness told the police that the couple were neglectful and did not feed the baby.

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Andrew Barker told the inquest he had been "prop feeding" the baby – resting a bottle of baby milk on the child's chest on a jumper while he played on his Xbox.

The inquest heard the couple called 999 when they saw the jumper had fallen over the child's face, but gave inconsistent stories when they arrived at the hospital.

Barker told the inquest he "prop fed" Alex because he could not bond with him. He put his jumper in the cot so the baby could sense his smell to help the bonding process.

The father said: "I had got distant I didn't want to pick him up. It wasn't Alex's fault. I'm not blaming him. Half the time I didn't know what I was doing. I was in dark places."

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He admitted he should not have put his jumper into the cot. He said: "For the rest of my life I will never stop feeling guilty for that."

Miss Goldthorpe told the hearing she found Alex was not breathing when she went to change his nappy. "I noticed he had the jumper on his face. He was very pale in colour."

Dr Alfredo Walker, who carried out the post-mortem examination on Alex after he died in hospital said his brain was starved of oxygen due to an "unknown cause".

Sheffield's social services manager Karen Walker told the inquest procedures within the social services department had been overhauled and any response to referrals would now be more co-ordinated. She said: "We could have been more robust and it could have led us to do things sooner. The family at the time may have needed more support."

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Barker and Miss Goldthorpe were initially charged with neglect after Alex's death but the prosecution offered no evidence when the case came to court.

Instead, Barker admitted a further neglect charge relating to an incident when Alex was thrown across a room onto a settee.

He was given a two-year community order with supervision and banned from having any contact with children under 14 for the duration of the order.

A CPS spokesman said: "At the trial the decision was taken not to proceed with the charges against Bethany Goldthorpe on evidential grounds and to secure a conviction for Andrew Barker by accepting his guilty plea on one of the charges."

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A spokesman from Sheffield Council said: "Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board is undertaking a joint serious case review. The review will highlight any lessons to be learned and will encompass any concerns about how all agencies shared information.

"The council is waiting for the coroners ruling to help us conclude this review."

Mr Dorries adjourned the inquest and will give a written judgment at a later date.