Professionals 'collectively failed' to protect Keanu Williams

Keanu Williams was discovered to have 37 injuries sustained over a period of days after paramedics were called to a house in Birmingham in January 2011. He died later that night.

Rebecca Shuttleworth was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of his murder in June.

The review by Birmingham's Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) found that social workers and health professionals “collectively failed” to prevent Keanu’s death.

The different agencies became “sidetracked” and failed to meet the standards of basic good practice when they should have reported their concerns, the review said.

The report stated that while Keanu’s death could not have been “predicted”, he was “likely" to suffer significant harm.

It notes that Keanu should have been made subject of a child protection plan on “at least two occasions” to address “issues of neglect and physical harm”. This included when Shuttleworth sought medical treatment for Keanu for what she described as “bumps and falls due to unsteadiness”, and when receiving treatment for a burn to his foot.