The neighbours had all put up CCTV cameras because of his actions and the cameras caught the murder. He couldn't argue against the camera evidence.
Social Services failed this boy and his mother. Social Services were aware of Laura Heath way before she was pregnant with Hakeem. She was reported to them in 2012 and despite heavy evidence of neglect, they left him there. He was 18 months at the time, sleeping on the floor in an uncarpeted flat. They bought him a bed and carpet for the flat, leaving him there although Laura was in an abusive relationship and using Heroin and Cannabis to block out her pain. She loved Hakeem very much but her mental health issues (PTSD/Anxiety and Depression)/abusive relationships and addictions prevented her from being a good mother. They removed 5 of her children, years before she was pregnant with Hakeem and they live with her mother. She didn’t smoke crack and was not a sex worker in 2012, when she left the tower block that she was in (2013), she had dumped the abusive boyfriend, was on methadone, set on turning her life around, and becoming a teacher. I am not making excuses for her, just highlighting SS failings and with more intervention I believe that he would still be alive now and maybe she could’ve turned her life around. The social workers involved should also be held accountable because they left Hakeem with a vulnerable, drug addicted adult. Birmingham Social Services have so much form for failing vulnerable children and adults but they always say “lessons will be learned.” Hog wash!!!
Thats exactly what I thought, its very wicker-man esque.
Another police force that have to refer themselves to the IOPC. I always hear bad things about this police force and that of Avon and Somerset. As someone living in the West Country I don’t feel confident enough that the police would take any case I had seriously - so many people I’ve known who have got to both police forces for a range of issues and problems have had no support and been fobbed off.Has anyone else here followed this case of a problem neighbour turning homicidal?
Parking row killer, 52, is found guilty of murder
Can Arslan, 52, killed father-of-three Matthew Boorman, 43, on the victim's front lawn in the Gloucestershire village of Walton Cardiff near Tewkesbury on October 5 last year.www.dailymail.co.uk
I found that a bit hard to follow. She was potentially fatally damaged by the horse but it makes it sound like she got in multiple altercations beforehand?
How can you confidently say she loved him? And that she could have turned wher life around. Maybe after her first child was taken but this was her sixth and addicts are still able of functioning - she gave him none of his medication and used his inhalers to inhale drugs. She failed her six children. Yes she was addicted to drugs but she would have had lots of opportunities and support to change - this was her 6th child and she couldn’t ensure he had a bed to sleep in. I can’t feel sorry for her. He should have been taken off her and put into a safe home. He was going to school smelling of cigarette smoke and urine. Abused from beginning to end. Someone could have loved and cherished this little boy. She didn’t deserve him. Yes she has issues but that is not love, it isn’t. 6 children down and because he wasn’t taken away like the others he ends up dead and dying in a horrific way. Did you see photos of the house and all of the drug paraphernalia?
My point was that they removed 5 of her other children before she was even pregnant with him, Social Services knew of him and if they had removed him in 2012, then he would still be alive. Maybe it would’ve given her the kick up the backside to change her life around as she knew that this was the last chance for her to be a parent (social services admitted this in 2012), she was open about getting clean and wanting to become a teacher for a better life for them both. I read the transcripts after posting, they seem to be making out that Hakeem was only a Child in Need from 2017. This was not the case. She also had the support of his father when he got out of jail around 2012/2013 but it appears from the transcripts that he went back in around 2016. Laura was not a functioning drug addict and only functioned when sober. This is why Social Services should have done something sooner. Transcripts of text messages sent that she was suicidal, couldn’t cope and saying that he deserves better does not read as a mother that does not love her child but of someone who needed help. Knowing someone that knew her, she did love her children but was not the best person to care for them. Social Services knew this and did nothing the sixth time around. I am not making excuses for her at all, I am just saying that it was common sense for SS to remove that boy at birth. Whilst Laura is responsible for his neglect, the social workers from 2012/2013 should also be held accountable. His social worker at the time of his death didn’t even know that Laura was a drug user and she didn’t move out of area, she literally moved a few roads away from a flat in 2013 to Long Acre! Where is the continuity of care?
As someone who has never taken drugs, it would be easy for me to take your stance. The opinion that you have is the same that I used to have before I worked with people who have serious mental health issues in addition to other risks factors (addiction/suicidal thoughts/abusive relationships). It was so easy for me to see things in black and white before I spoke to people in similar circumstances to Laura’s. It was easy for me to say, “If they loved their child that much then they would give them to a loving home.” Words are easy when you’re not in that predicament. Giving up an addiction especially when using substances is as a coping mechanism isn’t as easy as giving up for your child or anyone else when that has been a dependable method for years, in Laura’s case decades. I can’t comment on how you formed your opinion as I don’t know your circumstances and that is your business so whilst I agree that blame lays with her, I also think that it sits at Social Services door because this whole situation could’ve been avoided if they removed him at birth or, at least in 2012 when he was reported to SS at 18 months. Even if they decided to let him stay with his mother, more could’ve been done especially when there are mothers with less significant mental health history, Anxiety and Depression, who have support workers visit daily to check on theirs and their children’s well-being to prevent neglect. We shall have to agree to disagree.
I agree social services should of done a hell of a lot more! And yes there doesn’t seem to be a fair distribution of services!
Yeah I agree with you for the most part. Laura had a lot of trauma according to the person I know that knew her in the past. This is much different to the Arthur Labinjo-Hughes case and so many others where the neglect and abuse had malicious intent. It was a case of a vulnerable adult, who probably could have done with a social worker for herself, having sole responsibility of a child when they were in no fit state and with minimal support in place. In terms of not blaming SW, I can see why blaming them would be difficult if this was her first or second child but it was her sixth and the other five had been removed. I just don’t know how it gets to this point with the service when there is so much history and previous children removed. It is so exasperating that it always seems to be the same local authorities. The issue is that the case isn’t being reported properly so I doubt that there would be an investigation done into SS.
I completely agree with you and I remember watching this too! It was so so sad.
Was it definitely Ch4? I thought that it was BBC2 but could be wrong. I am thinking to watch it again on demand to see the process they go through again before deciding the fate of a child.
The one I watched was definitely Channel 4 and it was quite a long time ago, 8+ years. Wouldn’t surprise me if BBC2 had done something similar, maybe more recently.
Short answer: they won’t, they don’t care about poor people or children.
The government also doesn’t allocate its funds in a sane manner. For example anyone who knows about the NHS knows it’s a money pit, it needs restructuring and isn’t fit for purpose in most areas. But the government keeps throwing insane amount of money at it which never goes where it should. So instead of cutting back on that and re channeling the money to somewhere needed like social care, they just keep throwing money at it.
