MP slams 'head in sand' council as review points to list of failures over tragic Khyra

Care agencies were blamed for a shocking catalogue of "missed opportunities" to help Khyra Ishaq, who died in appalling conditions at her Birmingham home in May 2008.

The report, published by the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board, concluded the girl's death could have been prevented but the authorities "lost sight" of her.

Three social workers involved in the case have been removed from direct contact with children but Birmingham Council provoked anger yesterday by refusing to say whether they had been disciplined.

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, accused the council of trying to "spin its way out" of the problem instead of rectifying its "systemic failings".

"Birmingham City Council has shown that all it wants to do is invest money in spin ... and not really do anything structural," he said. "All they have done now is continue on the pen-pushing exercise of making it more difficult for social workers at the coal face to get out and do the work.

"This is the third report over the last year that we have had into Birmingham social services and what it shows continuously is the lack of development, the lack of progression and the systemic failures which continuously arise within the service."

In March, Khyra's mother Angela Gordon, 35, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Her former partner, Junaid Abuhamza, 31, was jailed indefinitely.

They were cleared of murder during a trial at Birmingham Crown Court but convicted of manslaughter.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said the serious case review confirmed the authorities had failed to protect a "vulnerable child". He said: "It is beyond anyone's comprehension that a child could die under such tragic circumstances.

"It is extremely difficult to prevent random and isolated incidents of violence against children, but the tragedy is that Khyra Ishaq endured a painful abuse over many months and eventually died, and this could and should have been prevented."