Busy Saturday morning, so here’s the story from The Times about the latest heart-wrenching news from Haringey,
The failings of social workers at Haringey Council have again been exposed in a criminal trial.
The local authority, which is still reeling from the criticism it received after its failing in the Baby P case, confirmed the two-year-old rape victim was known to social workers and was on its “at risk” register.
Officials at the North London borough said last night that a Serious Case Review was under way into how the girl could have been raped while in their care…
The Serious Case Review into the care the child received from social workers is being conducted by Graham Badman, chair of the Haringey Local Safeguarding Children Board.
But Lynne Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, said that more questions about the performance of the council needed to be answered. “We desperately need a public inquiry to get to the bottom of this,” she said.
This case continues to defy belief. I have seen many things in my life that would cause a shudder but this trumps them all in terms of sheer evil. I know many people do not like the word ‘evil.’ But is there something more appropriate to describe these actions. I am not one who believes in imprisonment as punishment for its own sake. I know too much about punitive attitudes and so called enlightened prison regimes which are in fact barbaric. Prison should be to insert a buffer between society and those who wish to harm it. This rapist is someone who society will need protected from for a very long time – maybe for as long as he lives.