大象传媒

Sue MacGregor meets people involved in the Victoria Climbie Inquiry, the catalyst for widespread reforms to child protection.

Victoria Climbie was just eight years old when she died in February 2000, after months of abuse at the hands of her Great Aunt. A pathologist recorded 128 separate injuries to her body, saying it was the worst case of deliberate harm he had ever dealt with.

Pictures of the smiling little girl from the Ivory Coast filled the newspapers. She had been sent to Britain for a better life. How could such appalling torture have gone unnoticed? What made the tragedy worse was the number of missed opportunities to save her. In the eleven months that Victoria lived in Britain, she came into contact with three housing authorities, four social services departments, two police child protection teams and the NSPCC, and was admitted to two different hospitals.

The government ordered an inquiry to examine what went wrong and consider how such a tragedy could be prevented from happening in the future. Its 108 recommendations prompted widespread reforms to child protection and social worker training.

Among Sue MacGregor's guests recalling the inquiry and its impact are its Chair, Lord Laming, and Neil Garnham, Counsel to the Inquiry and now a High Court Judge.

Presenter: Sue MacGregor
Producer: Deborah Dudgeon
Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.