Toddler's death case review

A Birmingham MP has has said he hopes that Keanu Williams 'did not die in vain'.

A serious case review published today has said that the toddler was beaten to death by his mother and became an "invisible child".

"As a city I believe we must know now where the buck will stop, not just in the City Council, but in our city’s National Health Service, which saw a badly injured little boy.

"As a city, we must resolve today that this poor little boy did not die in vain.

"We must change and change now."

More than ten social workers and health workers have been sacked or disciplined over the death of a two-year-old boy.

Keanu Williams was beaten to death by his mother Rebecca Shuttleworth and jailed for 18 years.

A serious case review into Keanu's death found that social workers, police, hospital staff and nursery workers did not swop information and missed signs that Keanu was being abused.

Peter Hay from Birmingham Children's Services said the service does not have enough social workers.

The Government has threatened Birmingham's under-fire childcare agencies with further action unless it sees rapid improvements in services.

Commenting on the findings of the report into toddler Keanu Williams' murder, Children's Minister Edward Timpson said, "This is an awful case and the Serious Case Review (SCR) shows that improvements are urgently needed."

He continued: "I have issued the council with a final warning - Ofsted will return to Birmingham this autumn to determine what progress has been made.

"There is no quick fix, however I have been very clear with Birmingham that unless I see rapid improvement further action will follow."

The independent chair of Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB), which published the report into Keanu Williams' death, has expressed "very deep regret" on behalf of all the agencies involved.

Two-year-old Keanu Williams became "invisible" to the authorities while being subjected to months of cruelty, a damning report has found.

The Serious Case Review into the toddler's murder concluded that the professionals involved in his care failed to meet even basic standards of good practice.

Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board's independent report said child protection workers in various agencies "collectively failed" to prevent Keanu's death.

Read: Toddler had 37 separate injuries when he died

The panel conducting the Serious Case Review into Keanu Williams' murder agreed his death "could not have been predicted."

However, the report added that in view of his mother's background history, "It could have been predicted that Keanu was likely to suffer significant harm and should have been subject of a child protection plan on at least two occasions to address issues of neglect and physical harm."

Keanu, who was born in Torbay, died in Birmingham in January 2011 after suffering a skull fracture and a severe abdominal injury caused by his mother, Rebecca Shuttleworth.

The report made eight recommendations to the organisations involved in Keanu's care, with the review's author saying various agencies were guilty of a "loss of focus" after a core assessment made shortly before the toddler's first birthday.

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The Serious Case Review into Keanu Williams' death found the toddler died "because people missed opportunity after opportunity to intervene, and do something decisive to ensure he was safe and properly cared for."

The review, which was undertaken by the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB), stated that although some staff "did their best" for the two-year-old boy, others "did not comply with required practice, processes and procedures."

"Those staff have already been held to account for this by individual agencies," Jane Held, chairwoman of the BSCB said.

The National Children's Bureau (NCB) have responded to the serious case review into the death of two-year-old Keanu Williams who was beaten to death by his mother in 2011.