Star Hobson: Bradford Council chief considered resigning over toddler's murder

• Video report by Harry Horton

The chief executive of Bradford Council was asked to justify her £194,000-a-year salary when she appeared before MPs to answer questions over the murder of Star Hobson.

Kersten England was called before the government's Education Committee after a damning report found the Keighley toddler was failed by Bradford's children's services before she was murdered by her mother's partner in September 2020.

The report, by a panel of child protection experts, highlighted "missed opportunities" to save her and said her family's concerns were "disregarded and not taken sufficiently seriously".

Ms England said she apologised "unreservedly" for what had happened to Star and added: "She should never have had to endure the horrific crimes and abuse to which she was subjected."

But during over an hour of scrutiny, one of the committee members, Conservative MP Anna Firth, asked Ms England whether her "huge" pay could be justified.

Ms Firth said records showed Ms England received a salary of £194,000 as well as pension payments of £34,000 a year.

"Do you think your current salary is justified given what's happened here?" she said.

In response Ms England said: "The salary is based on an assessment of the scale and complexity of responsibility and the risk that I carry for the fifth largest metropolitan district in the country, and one of the most deprived, and that was the level the salary was set at.

"I work every day to justify that salary and Im working very hard to stabilise and improve children's services."

Star was 16 months old when she was murdered by her mother's partner, Savannah Brockhill, at their home in Keighley, on 22 September 2020.

She suffered a fatal cardiac arrest after months of "neglect, cruelty and injury" at the hands of Brockhill and Star's mother, Frankie Smith.

Brockhill was later jailed for life. Smith is serving a 12-year sentence for causing or allowing Star's death.

The subsequent report by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel highlighted a number of occasions when family and friends raised concerns about apparent physical injuries suffered by the toddler, including bruising to her face and body.

Despite visits from social services and police, these concerns did not lead to direct intervention and the authorities accepted Smith's repeated claims that allegations against her and Brockhill were "malicious".

Seven days before Star died, her case was closed by Bradford children's social care on the basis that the concerns were "unsubstantiated".

In January this year the government stripped Bradford Council of responsibility for children's services.But Ms England was asked by the committee why she had not resigned.

She said: "I have thought of resigning – I have considered my position frequently. I have reflected as my colleague has on all the actions I took and things that could or could not have been done.

"I take responsibility, this happened on my watch, I'm deeply sorry for the fact that this happened on my watch, but taking responsiblity is about staying in position and taking responsibility for putting it right."

She added: "Stability in leadership is critical."

The committee was called to examine the cases of Both Star and six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was murdered by his stepmother in Solihull. Solihull Council's chief executive was also called to answer questions.

She also confirmed that no-one had lost their job following Star's death. "A number of people who were involved in this case have departed the authority – they chose to do so," she said.

"We have looked at the performance of all the others that remained and whether there are capability issues."

But Star's great grandfather, David Fawcett, said not enough had been done to change things.

He said: "After what's happened you'd have thought they'd have got on with it, speeded it up, but to know it could take up to a year – I find that unacceptable really."

Keighley MP Robbie Moore said: "I don't think change is happening anywhere near the speed it needs to and that's why I don't think we can wait much longer. Here we are still having the chief executive and her team saying 'w'e will learn lessons. I'm fed up of hearing that message."

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