Climbie woman's bid to work with children

A senior social worker who was sacked for her "lamentable" failings over the death of Victoria Climbié ¨as launched a legal battle to work with children again.

Angella Mairs lost her £35,000 job as team manager at Haringey Social Services after the eight-year-old died following months of violence at the hands of her great aunt Marie Therese Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning.

After an inquiry into the girl's death, Mairs was held responsible for failing to avert the tragedy and placed on a list banning her from working with youngsters again.

Now Mairs has taken her case to a tribunal in a bid to overturn the order.

She is expected to argue she was unfairly made a scapegoat and had been overworked at the time of the tragedy.

Her challenge will hamper the north London Labour-run council's efforts to draw a line under the affair.

Mairs's action follows an official inquiry into the circumstances leading up to the girl's death. It found Mairs guilty of a "lamentable" catalogue of failings that "destroyed the efficacy of a system of supervision designed to ensure a child at risk of serious harm would be protected from that harm".

Lord Laming's inquiry revealed Mairs, 45, had failed "even to flick through" Climbie case file and had recommended her case be closed days after social services received reports the little girl was being beaten and sexually abused by her guardians.

The inquiry also heard Mairs allegedly ripped out the last page of the case file saying "let us get rid of this".

Following the hearings, Mairs and junior social worker Lisa Arthurworrey were both banned from working with children again under the Protection of Children Act - a measure normally reserved only for paedophiles.

At the tribunal hearing challenging the order, lawyers for the Secretary of State for Health argued Mairs's failings were so grave she should never again work with children. Bernard Monaghan, a consultant social services adviser who conducted an inquiry into Haringey's performance, told the hearing Mairs's negligence had contributed to Climbi駳 death.

He pointed out she had met case worker, Arthurworrey, on 15 November, 1999, the day on which she herself assumed overall control of Climbi駳 case but, critically, she never read Climbi駳 case notes which contained damning evidence of "the gravest abuse".

Contained in this file was a 20-page fax from Central Middlesex Hospital outlining staff concerns the girl was being severely abused.

If Mairs had even "flipped" through the Climbié ¦ile, she would have instantly realised the gravity of the situation, Mr Monaghan said.

He said: "It is my view that if she had read the case papers the outcome for Victoria Climbié ·ould have been considerably different. She should have been saying to herself, 'What on earth is going on?' "

Victoria died in February 2000 after being beaten and starved over several months.

Kouao, 47, and Manning, 31, are serving life for her murder.

The hearing continues.