Climbie social worker to appeal

The social worker who failed to prevent the murder of eight-yearold Victoria Climbié is to appeal against her dismissal for gross misconduct.

Lisa Arthurworrey admitted today that her mistakes led to the girl's death in a north London flat.

She said the case preyed on her mind every day and had caused her to suffer a breakdown.

She told Radio 4's Today programme that she was overworked, let down by her managers and misled by medical reports which said the 128 marks and scars on Victoria's body were scabies.

In fact they were inflicted with a hammer, belt and cigarettes by Victoria's great aunt and her boyfriend over 10 months leading to her death in February 2000. She had been tied up in a bin liner and kept in a bath tub for days on end. The pathologist said it was the worst case of child abuse he had ever seen.

Ms Arthurworrey, a junior social worker in Haringey, said she had been duped into thinking the aunt, Marie-Thérèse Kouao, was Victoria's-mother. In fact Victoria's parentslived in the Ivory Coast and had sent their daughter to stay with distant relatives in the hope she would have a better life.

Ms Arthurworrey admitted that she only "skim-read" a 19-page fax from a consultant paediatrician which detailed Victoria's injuries, including razor cuts and a swollen face. She read instead a covering letter which, she said, concluded there were "no child protection concerns".

She admitted she had made a "huge mistake" by not reading the document in full. She said: "I showed the fax to my manager who skim-read it like myself and said, well, we have obviously made the right decision to send Victoria home. That was information that was lost, information that I did not pick up at that time because the fax was difficult to read, because I was carrying a caseload."

Later, when Ms Arthurworrey visited and telephoned the flat Kouao shared with boyfriend Carl Manning, she had no response and assumed they had moved away.

The first she knew of her mistake was when she heard the pair had been arrested on suspicion of murder. They were later jailed for life.

Ms Arthurworrey said: "I realised that I had got things terribly wrong because I had perceived Kouao as a kind person who was trying to do her best for her child. This little girl had been subjected to all forms of the most horrific abuse. In some ways I was responsible. I didn't save her, which was my job to do. I was paid to do that."

One expert today condemned a decision to list Ms Arthurworrey's name on the child protection register. Liz Davies, the social worker who blew the whistle in the Islington care homes scandal, said: "Lisa neither abused nor killed Victoria. She was a professional social worker doing her job, she acted in good faith and presents no risk to children."