Climbie worker blames hospital staff

The public inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie saw yet more finger-pointing today as the social worker at the centre of the scandal blamed hospital staff for failing to warn her that the girl had been abused.

Lisa Arthurworrey, widely regarded as the most culpable of all the childcare professionals who dealt with Victoria, said the case would have been handled "completely differently" had doctors voiced their suspicions more clearly.

Her claims completely contradict evidence by staff at the North Middlesex Hospital, who said the role of investigating abuse belonged to social workers.

Ms Arthurworrey, who worked with Haringey's North Tottenham investigation and assessment team, was accused of "blinding incompetence" at the trial of Victoria's killers Marie-Therese Kouao and Carl Manning, who were jailed for life earlier this year. She closed the file on Victoria on 18 February last year, on the basis that the child was no longer a subject of concern and had probably moved to France with Kouao, her greataunt. A week later Victoria died of hypothermia after suffering horrific abuse and beatings at Manning's flat in Tottenham.

Today, however, Ms Arthurworrey said hospital staff had not passed on their full suspicions that Victoria had suffered abuse and neglect when they examined her for burns in July 1999.

She told the inquiry: "If I had been given solid evidence from the North Middlesex Hospital at the beginning stages of Victoria's investigation, I believe Victoria's case would have been handled completely differently."

Ms Arthurworrey said the workload at Haringey was far worse than at her previous post at Hammersmith and Fulham. It was "chaotic, busy and very unsettling ... there appeared to be no managers available."

She added that she had been dealing with 18 other active cases. Complaints to her manager, Carole Baptiste, had been fruitless. "I recall speaking to Carole in about August 1999 to raise concerns about what I considered to be the high number of sexual abuse cases that I had been allocated,î she said.

"I was worried that I had not had proper training on sexual abuse cases and that I was not receiving adequate supervision."

Ms Arthurworrey, who is suspended pending a disciplinary hearing, has been publicly vilified since the murder trial and, like several colleagues, has received death threats and abuse in the street.

Her family, friends and trade union say she is being made a scapegoat for the failings of medical staff and senior social services personnel.

The inquiry continues.