By Ashley Young And Sheila Mckenzie-
Social workers involved with a vulnerable Gloucestershire woman and her child have been slammed, after an abusive boyfriend with a chequered past of violence, drug abuse, and robberies, escaped their detection and killed a baby whose vulnerable mother he was dating. A postmortem of the baby also found healing fractures to his lower ribs suffered weeks before his death, the review said. Four-month-old Ah’Kiell Walker died after being shaken and immersed in water by his evil father, Alistair Walker
Walker was jailed for 10 years for the manslaughter of his son at Bristol Crown Court last year, whilst his partner, Hannah Henry, received 4 years for causing or allowing his death at the same trial.
Jailed For 10 Years: Evil Alistair Walker Jailed For 4 Years: Obsessed Hannah Henry
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Image: (Gloucestershire Police)
Gloucestershire Council , who have a poor reputation for the quality of their children’s services, were heavily criticised by the report’s authour, experienced child protection expert, Joana Nicolas, for a fundamental lack of understanding of domestic abuses. The condemnation comes after social workers failed to explore the criminal history and injuries to a mother by a man who showed all the symptoms of danger. In a sad case that revealed lies after lies by both the woman and her partner, Gloucestershire Children’s services were still blamed for their professional incompetence is preventing the death.
The review, for Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board, found children’s services failed in the summer of 2015 to follow up information about the violent criminal history of Alistair Walker, who killed his three-month-old son Ah’Kiell Walker the following July.
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Victim: Four months old Al’Kiell Walker Image: Gloucestershire Police
Dangerous Walker was given a 10-year-sentence last year for the manslaughter of Ah’Kiell, who suffered broken ribs and water inhalation. His mother, Hannah Henry, was jailed for four years for causing or allowing his death. The review criticised professionals for showing too little curiosity, around injuries and hardship suffered by Henry, 22, who had been involved with children’s services as a teenager and had a history of abusive relationships.
It also found that the council, which struggles with social worker turnover and consequently, service improvement, faced challenges meeting its statutory duties under the Children Act 1989 . The council also negligently allowed non-qualified workers to take on too much responsibility
HISTORY
Hannah Henry had a history of domestic abuse , smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol. She also had a conviction for possessing Class A drugs, and was found with Class A drugs on another occasion. It was also known that the mother had been in at least two abusive relationships by the time she entered a relationship with James’s father, and she was only 19 at that time.
What’s worse is that Hannah Henry had minimal respite between moving from one abusive relationship to another. The mother told professionals that her new partner treated her well and
was nice to her, which is what she had told professionals about her previous partner, who had a long history of allegations of rape and assault made by previous partners, for the majority of their relationship. Her new partner had convictions for resisting police, common assault of a female victim and burglary.
Other offences which did not result in convictions, related to possessing cannabis, robbery, common
assault, murder (he was a suspect in a stabbing), possessing a prohibited weapon (taser) and criminal damage. Police checks were not conducted on this man for four months, and he turned out to be a man who would have been prohibited from living with a vulnerable woman,
The Department for Education’s analysis of serious case reviews found that “other frequently co-existing risks include adverse childhood experiences, a history of criminality (especially violence), acrimonious separations.
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