Warnings that a baby was at risk from his violent father weeks before he was murdered were ignored by social workers in one of seven suspicious child deaths in Doncaster since 2004.

Ministers ordered a team of experts to investigate failings at the South Yorkshire town’s children’s services department yesterday amid concern that another Baby P scandal will erupt and undermine confidence in the entire child protection system.

They said they would use their powers to remove senior managers if there was no sign of improvement. Martin Winter, elected Mayor of the town and leader of the council, is already under pressure to resign.

The crisis in Doncaster came to a head days before the tragic case of three-month-old Alfie Goddard goes to court. His father Craig Goddard, 24, will be sentenced on Thursday. He has admitted murdering his son, who died from a head injury last May.

The Times has learnt that social workers were in close contact with the family and had been warned on many occasions by friends and neighbours about the father’s violent temper. They also told social workers that the mother, Lindsay Harris, 19, was incapable of looking after children.

A serious case review will be published shortly into the Alfie Goddard death, and a separate review will be held into the death of Amy Howson, who was starved and beaten before her spine was snapped in December 2007. Her father, James Howson, 25, was found guilty last October of the murder of his 16-month-old daughter. He was jailed for a minimum of 22 years. Her mother, Tina Hunt, received a 12-month suspended sentence after admitting child cruelty.

It also emerged that serious case reviews have been ordered in the past two years into seven deaths of children, suggesting that social services were involved in each case. Serious case reviews are required by law where neglect or abuse is suspected.

Three have already been published and all uncovered a series of missed opportunities for social workers to intervene before the deaths of babies aged three months, seven months and ten months. They found: a three-month-old boy died on October 21, 2004 after being found unconscious while sharing a bed with his alcoholic mother and an older sibling. The report said the death was a “tragic accident” but concluded that there were failings in the way the family were dealt with by social services and noted “referral thresholds” were too high. a seven-month-old girl died on May 18, 2006, after concerns were repeatedly raised that her depressed mother was drunk while looking after her. On one occasion the mother was found drunk in bed with the baby.

A ten-month-old baby died in December 2007 after a number of referrals to social services, including indications that he and an older sibling were at risk of harm from their 18-year-old mother and 16-year-old father.

The reviews noted social workers were working “against the backdrop of unmanageable workloads”, which led to a “chaotic and dangerous situation” within the child protection team. The council refused to reveal any information on the two remaining serious case reviews into child deaths in the town.

The inquiry into failings in Doncaster follows the outcry over the death of 17-month-old Baby P at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger in Haringey, North London, in August 2007, despite 60 visits from social workers and other professionals.

A month ago Ofsted branded the Doncaster children’s services department inadequate and Beverley Hughes, the Children’s Minister, said yesterday that she was concerned that the root causes of failings had still not been addressed. She has written to Mr Winter expressing serious misgivings about senior management at the council and said that the review of its performance would go beyond children’s services to address other areas.

A motion calling for Mr Winter, mayor since 2001, to resign immediately has been submitted to the full council, which meets next week.

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