The mother of a 17-month-old boy and her boyfriend have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the child died from horrific injuries.

It is understood that the boy was taken to a North London hospital with a broken back, fractured ribs and at least two fingernails missing. The child, who is believed to have been monitored by social services, died an hour after arriving at hospital. A police source described the case as horrific.

An investigation has begun into whether social services in Haringey could have prevented the death. The child was believed to have been on the council’s “at risk” register.

The child’s death will once again raise crucial questions about Haringey council’s ability to protect children who are at risk from abusive parents or guardians. The council came in for fierce criticism four years ago after a report into the murder of Victoria Climbié highlighted serious social services failings in the monitoring of her welfare.

Yesterday officers from the Metropolitan Police Child Abuse Investigation Command arrested a 25-year old woman and 31-year old man on suspicion of murdering the boy. They are believed to be the child’s mother and her boyfriend.

The child, who has not been named to protect the identity of his siblings, died at midday on August 3 at North Middlesex Hospital. Police were called because staff believed the death was suspicious. A postmortem examination, carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital, proved inconclusive and further tests are being carried out to establish a cause of death.

Haringey council has ordered a serious case review involving police, the health service and social services after the latest death. A spokesman for the council said: “Police, health and social services and GPs will contribute to the review and it will examine the roll of those involved. This review is routine in suspicious deaths such as these.”

Victoria Climbié’s death seven years ago led to one of the biggest inquiries into child protection in Britain. Her great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, and the woman’s boyfriend, Carl Manning, were jailed for life for murder in 2001.

Lord Laming’s final report in 2003 identified major failings in all the agencies that had come into contact with Victoria during her short life in Haringey. The inquiry found that care workers missed at least 12 chances to save the girl. Despite their contact with her, staff knew no more about her when she died than when they first saw her.

Victoria died from 128 injuries despite regular contact with social workers in four London boroughs, doctors at two hospitals and the police. Lord Laming said it was lamentable that “nothing more than basic good practice” would have saved her.

This year the council was criticised over allegations that its social workers were ignoring other child abuse cases. During an employment tribunal Nevres Kemal, a senior Haringey social worker, claimed that the council’s inaction exposed seven children to serious risk of abuse by their stepfather. Ms Kemal alleged that, when she raised these concerns with her superiors, she was victimised and suffered racial discrimination.

12 The number of occasions that the various agencies involved in caring for Victoria Climbié failed to remove her from her abusive guardians, according to Lord Laming’s findings

Source: Times Database

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