The council has apologised and started a thorough case assessment after dismissing hospital concerns to let a mother who was gravely depressed take her newborn home just days before she killed her.
Scandal-hit Just 10 weeks old, Haringey social authorities determined that innocent Lily-Mai should be sent to parents Lauren Saint George and Darren Hurrell.
But yesterday, Saint George was found guilty of killing her through infanticide after weeks of horrifying evidence.
Jurors were informed that staff members at Barnet Hospital had requested the authorities to prevent the little child from being sent home with them due to concerns about neglect.
However, the hospital staff was informed by the lead social worker Theresa Ferguson from Haringey Child and Family Services that this was not an option.
Today, Haringey, which has previously been under fire for its mistakes in the deaths of Baby P and Victoria Climbie, was forced to apologise once more for failing to protect another child.
‘We are extremely grieved by the unfortunate passing of Lily-Mai and our sympathies are with those who loved and cared for her during her short life,’ said Council Chief Executive Andy Donald and Haringey Council Leader, Cllr Peray Ahmet.
We want to express our regret that Lily-Mai did not receive the attention and security she deserved.
There are undoubtedly lessons to be learnt, and the Haringey Safeguarding Children Partnership has already hired an independent expert to do a serious case review, which will be finished and released once the trial is over.
“We are certain that the changes we’ve made since could have better safeguarded Lily-Mai, and we are unwavering in our commitment to protecting kids and teenagers in our borough,” the statement reads.
The case has some similarities to the tragic passing of Baby P in 2007.
The irresponsible mother of the 17-month-old Peter Connelly, who was eventually found guilty and sentenced to prison for his death from 50 injuries, was given permission to live there by Haringey social workers.
Victoria Climbie was killed in 2000 by her aunt and a lover after being subjected to severe abuse as a young child in the same north London district.
Six days after the hospital was compelled to turn over Lily-Mai, Saint George lost her cool and began shaking the 10-week-old child in a “violent and abusive” attack on January 31, 2018.
She sustained a critical head injury in addition to 18 rib fractures, two leg breaks, and significant bruising.
On February 2, doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital shut off Lily-life Mai’s support system due to the severity of her brain damage.
Despite medical staff at Barnet Hospital advising that Lily-Mai was at risk of maltreatment, Haringey social services had ruled six days prior to the attack that she should be given into the sole custody of her parents, Saint George and Darren Hurrell, both 25.
“Lily-death Mai’s might almost certainly have been prevented,” the prosecutor Sally O’Neill QC told the jury, “if she hadn’t been discharged into the care of two people who were grossly unqualified to caring for her.”
The coroner’s verdict that Lily-Mai was unlawfully killed last year caused the Metropolitan Police to change their previous position that there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest her parents, and now they both face trial.
After being found guilty of infanticide, the judge informed Saint George that she would not be sent to prison.
After requesting a report from the probation agency, Mr. Justice Spencer continued the sentence at Wood Green Crown Court until September 9.
He spoke to the mother, who was sobbing, “I am ordering there to be a report from the probation agency in your regard. This is primarily for the purpose of determining whether they can give you any assistance in rebuilding your life after this trial and after all has transpired.
“It is fairly obvious to me that at the time you committed the deed that killed Lily-Mai, you were depressed and still reeling from the repercussions of her birth.
“Traditionally, the verdict of infanticide has elicited pity rather than retribution.
She was informed that he had decided not to send her to prison because she had “suffered and continues to suffer.”
The punishment will be a suspended one.
The jury was excused from serving for ten years by Mr. Justice Spencer.
‘These cases are some of the most challenging we have to try because of the subject matter – the death of a young baby,’ he remarked, turning to thank the attorney.
“I and I’m sure every single juror has been tremendously thankful for the way lawyers have treated this case and have helped in the true administration of justice,” the attorney said.
The Infanticide Crime of 1938 applies when a mother kills her infant child under the age of 12 months, but her mental equilibrium was disturbed since she hadn’t entirely recovered from the effects of giving birth at the time of the act or omission.
Mr. Justice Spencer dismissed a charge against both parents of causing or permitting a child’s death after concluding that Hurrell had no case to answer for allegations of murder and manslaughter.
Saint George, of north London’s Enfield, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter after a jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for more than 11 hours.
She was, nevertheless, found guilty of infanticide by a vote of 10 to 1.
The charge is a lesser degree of murder in which a mother murders her child while mentally disturbed by her inability to recover from childbirth.
Saint George and Hurrell, both from Derby’s Alvaston, were found not guilty of a separate charge of child abuse.
The infant, who was delivered prematurely at 31 weeks, was still being cared for at Barnet Hospital when the couple moved into a flat in Duckett’s Green, north London, according to evidence presented in court.
Concerns about the parents’ capacity to care for Lily-Mai led to the assignment of the case to Theresa Ferguson, a social worker of Haringey Child and Family Services.
Professionals at Barnet Hospital, such as neonatal sister Deborah Hodge, were upset that she would be transferred to her parents’ sole custody because they thought she may be neglected.
There have been questions regarding Saint George’s mental health, parenting skills, and lack of dedication to her daughter, including her refusal to see her in the hospital.
On January 22, despite their reservations, it was decided to let Lily-Mai be sent home with careful supervision from social services.
The day before Lily-Mai was released, police were called to Hurrell and Saint George’s apartment due to an alleged argument between the two, but no crime was found.
Ms. Ferguson made a referral for a “legal gateway meeting” on the same day, which is one of the ways social services can act to intervene in a baby’s care, but she left for vacation the next day.
To say that the timing is unfortunate is probably understating the situation, according to Ms. O’Neill.
On January 26, a social worker on duty paid the family a visit, and on January 30, after returning to work, Ms. Ferguson and Alberta Nyantaki, a health visitor, also paid the family a visit.
Despite coming to the conclusion that Lily-needs Mai’s were being fulfilled satisfactorily, Ms. Nyantaki raised “severe concerns” to Ms. Ferguson, who informed her that the couple’s erratic behaviour had met the requirement for a child care protection plan.
The next day, the legal procedure began with a legal gateway meeting, and at around 3 p.m., Ms. Ferguson came to the apartment to discuss the family’s possibilities for a residential placement and whether Hurrell and the infant could move in without Saint George.
According to testimony given in court, Saint George yelled at the social worker and declined to cooperate after earlier blaming Lily-Mai in a text message for preventing her from getting any rest.
You can have no doubt that she was unable to control herself a few hours later, the prosecution said. “She was unable to contain herself in front of a social worker who was there to examine her competency as a mother.”
Only two weeks had passed the typical pregnant term when Lily-Mai was 10 weeks and 2 days old.
The method was through being shook so that effectively her brain moved backwards and forwards inside her skull, producing the injuries of which you have heard, prosecutor Sally O’Neill, QC, said earlier in her final remarks to the jury.
The prosecution argues that Lauren Saint George’s abrupt outburst of rage was what led to this illegal and brutal assault on Lily-Mai.
According to reports, the woman lost her cool when social worker Theresa Ferguson from Haringey warned her that she would either need to check into a mother and baby unit or the child would be placed in foster care.
Jurors were informed that Saint George became “extremely furious” with Ms. Ferguson and used profanity, urging the social worker to “take the baby.”
According to Ms. O’Neill, Lily-mother Mai’s was her “biggest concern” in life.
She is the one who seized, shaken, bent, and pulled her leg.
“She committed the unlawful conduct,”
“The one person who should have protected her the most, her mother, not only failed to protect her by procuring her immediate medical assistance… but unlawfully assaulted her purposely in that violent and abusive fashion,” the report reads.
She allegedly blamed the infant for her inability to sleep, the possibility of having to leave her house, and the threat it posed to her relationship with Hurrell by forcing him to prioritise Lily-Mai over her.
According to Ms. O’Neill, the major issue in Lily-brief Mai’s life was sadly her own mother.
The prosecutor continued by charging both parents with purposeful neglect of Lily-Mai.
According to the court, Hurrell’s police interview was “riddled” with the symptoms the doctor had advised them to watch out for.
In the days preceding her fall, Lily-Mai had been turning blue, pale, floppy, and off food, according to the father’s statement to the police.
It is said that he was aware that receiving Lily-Mai emergency medical care might mean having her taken out of their custody.
That was placing his and their interests ahead of the baby’s, and Ms. O’Neill argued that doing so constituted willful neglect of the child.
Prior to the sentence hearing, which will take place at Wood Green Crown Court, Saint George was granted continuing bail.