The family of the murdered Star Hobson said the results of an inquest into her death left them “angry and frustrated”.
Star’s mother Frankie Smith and her partner Savannah Brockhill have been jailed for their role in the toddler’s death.
The report found that professionals were too willing to accept the couple’s explanations for Star’s injuries and failed to properly investigate the family’s concerns.
Aunt Alicia Szepler said reading the results made her “so much angrier”.
The national review also examined the involvement of social workers, the police and other authorities in the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.
In Star’s case, it noted that the assessment visits were “perfunctory” and meant the professionals had only a “limited understanding of what daily life was like for Star.”
The little girl was constantly being uprooted from household to household, but “no professionals understood that,” the report said.
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Five referrals to Bradford Social Services were made by relatives and friends who had noticed marks on Star and changes in her personality in the nine months leading up to her death.
Smith and Brockhill’s trial found it was the result of months of physical and psychological abuse by the couple at their home in Keighley, West Yorkshire, while “being in the crossfire” of the couple’s toxic relationship.
The review found social workers “too readily accepted” the couple’s explanations for their injuries. In one case, they took no further action after being told that a recommendation was malicious and based on dislike of their same-sex relationship.
The report states: “The growing weight of concerned voices speaking on Star’s behalf should have prompted professionals to reconsider the escalating risks to her.
“The fact that she may have experienced severe and systematic physical and emotional abuse was never really considered and addressed.”
Great-grandfather David Fawcett, from Baildon, said Star’s family was “really angry and frustrated”.
“It’s incredible,” he said.
“If social services had done their job at all, Star would still have been with us.
“It’s annoying because it tells you what you know and what should never have happened to Star. It is very annoying to have to read all this again.”
The report also highlighted interactions with the star’s mother Frankie Smith, saying an opportunity for early help during her pregnancy at age 17 was missed when the young mother was not seen by a antenatal health visitor.
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel found that Brockhill had a history of domestic violence with a previous partner and was the subject of a restraining order in 2015. However, no controls were carried out by the social services.
Smith was also a target for Brockhill, but abuse between the couple was not assessed because Smith was “not given sufficient space to share with social workers what was happening to her,” the review said.
Mr Fawcett believes Smith, his granddaughter, “failed herself, really, she was abused”.
“What happened to Star, we thought would happen to Frankie,” he said.
Star’s aunt, Ms. Szepler, reiterated a finding in the review, which said “relevant information that would have aided decision-making was not always shared by police.”
“If the organizations had worked more together, they might have thought, ‘Wait a minute – how come it was passed on to the police and social services by five different people?'” Ms. Szepler said.
“If they all sat down and looked deeper, they would have seen the bigger picture that we weren’t malicious.
“They didn’t bother to hear our side of what’s going on.”
Star’s former babysitter Hollie Jones, who was the first person to raise concerns about the toddler, said she had mixed feelings about the report’s findings but was “shocked” to learn of previously undisclosed details such as Brockhill’s abusive past .
“I wasn’t listened to, so I think one of the big changes is that people aren’t being shunned and ignored, and I think that would be a massive change that needs to be made.
“It will always be kind of heartbreaking for me as Frankie was one of my best friends so I feel like I will always love her but I will never be able to forgive her.”
Ms Jones said she had no intention of contacting Smith in prison.
“Even though it’s been two years, it’s still very fresh and I still have quite a few bad feelings about what happened and about her. So I wouldn’t want to speak to her again or visit her again…but that could change.”
Bradford’s Children’s Social Service was “in turmoil” in 2020, with high turnover, high caseload and reduced funding, resulting in assessments being “too perfunctory,” according to the review.
Several recommendations were made, including more joint collection of information by different agencies and more emphasis on information from friends and members of the children’s extended families.
Janice Hawkes, Chair of the Bradford Partnership, apologized and said: “We know agencies have let Star down and we need to make things right.”
She said the agency had taken steps to address the issues highlighted in Star’s case, but recognized there was still work to be done.
“As a partnership, we are fully committed to improving child safety across Bradford,” she said.
Mr Fawcett said: “We hope something comes out of this. We don’t want anything like Star to happen to other kids.
“We hope there will be changes for the better.”
“I don’t really have much hope after what we’ve been through, but I want to be hopeful,” Ms. Szepler said.
“We just hope they do what they say they do because… [this] It’s been happening for years and it keeps happening.”
May 21, 2019 – Birth of Star Hobson
October 2019 – Frankie Smith meets Savannah Brockhill a month after she split from Star’s father Jordan Hobson
January 23, 2020 – Domestic violence and bruising concerns. Following a recommendation from friend and babysitter Hollie Jones, a social worker visited Star three times and found “there were no obvious concerns.”
February 2020 – Star is living with her great-grandmother, Anita Smith, when Savannah and Frankie’s relationship breaks down
April 2020 – Frankie removes Star from Anita Smith’s custody without warning
May 4, 2020 – A social work team makes an unannounced visit to Savannah’s home, where the child is believed to be “safe and well” the day after Anita Smith’s referral. Social workers conclude that this was malicious
June 21, 2020 – Jordan Hobson submits bruise photos raising concerns about Savannah’s treatment of his daughter. Star is examined by a police-arranged paramedic, and they find no concern that the bruising was “most likely accidental and consistent with Frankie’s explanation.”
July 8, 2020 – Evaluation after medical opinion discontinued
August 27, 2020 – Video of Star with bruises on his face emerges and is sent to police. Officials attempt a visit but the couple say they are in Scotland with Star
September 2, 2020 – Star’s biological great-grandfather, Frank Smith, referred Star after seeing another video of bruises. A social worker contacts Frankie, who tells them that her daughter was bruised when she fell and this was previously discussed with another social worker. The home visit is postponed to September 4, but authorities find no record of a previous contact
September 3, 2020 – Frankie and Savannah are contacted by a family doctor advising Star to see a doctor, but the couple doesn’t respond
September 4, 2020 – Social services visit Star and conclude ‘no further action will be taken’
September 15, 2020 – The case is closed on the grounds that the concerns were unfounded and the referral was malicious
September 22, 2020 – Star dies of an abdominal hemorrhage caused by blunt force trauma. A post-mortem found the toddler suffered multiple injuries to her scalp, forehead, cheek and back, as well as a recent fracture of her skull and re-fracture of her right tibia, after being physically assaulted by Brockhill on numerous occasions in the weeks and months leading up to her death.
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