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Cannings Review: Lawyer demands care case inquiry

1 min read
The investigations into 28 cases of parents convicted of killing their children shows the separate review of care cases conducted by local authorities must be re-examined, a campaigner has claimed.

Sarah Harman, a lawyer, contrasted the involvement of Tim David, a paediatrician, in the criminal investigation with the absence of a paediatrician involved centrally in the review of care cases.

Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, reviewed nearly 300 criminal cases in the wake of the Angela Cannings judgment.

The review of cases in the family courts, which concluded in November (Children Now, 24-30 November), has resulted in the care plan being changed in only one case, leading to calls for an independent review.

Harman said: "A lawyer can look with a legal eye but some cases will be helped by the involvement of a paediatrician. Yet there were no paediatricians involved in looking at family cases officially. I cannot believe there is only one family case that needs reviewing. There must be more cases where the evidence is finely balanced." A spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Skills said paediatricians might have been used in local authority reviews in appropriate cases.

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