Coroner Dr Paul Knapman hears how neglected baby starved to death in ‘filthy flat’ - HIV infected mother arrested, but dies two days later

Published: 11 March 2011
by JOSH LOEB

A BABY starved to death despite his three-year-old sister’s attempts to feed him through the bars of his cot, an inquest has heard.

The boy, known only as “EG” due to a court order prohibiting him being named, was just 11 months old when he was found dead on March 8 last year in a “filthy” St John’s Wood flat.

His mother – she also cannot be named for legal reasons and was referred to throughout the inquest as “YM” – was immediately arrested and died in hospital two days later due to natural causes associated with HIV.

Metropolitan Police detective inspector Paul Clack said: “It’s likely that the child was not being looked after either because of her [YM’s] psychiatric or physical illness.”

He said that prior to the deaths, health professionals had expressed concern about YM’s “unstable” state of mind and reluctance to take antiretroviral medication.

YM, who travelled to Britain as an illegal immigrant in 2005, had been suffering from nightmares and “believed she was hearing men’s voices”, DCI Clack said.

The inquest heard YM spoke poor English but had been reluctant to use interpreters to communicate with healthcare authorities, perhaps due to a fear of others finding out about her HIV status.

DCI Clack said: “On March 8 police had a call stating that there was an 11-month-old child having difficulty breathing. The caller was believed to be YM and there were language difficulties. 

“That was the essence of the call.”   

DCI Clack said Philip Buck, a paramedic with the London Ambulance Service, had described YM’s flat as “very untidy and dirty with used nappies. It looked like somebody had emptied a bin-liner on the floor”. 

He added that Mr Buck said an adult’s dinner plate inside EG’s cot had crumbs of crisps or cereal on it – something he took as a sign that the infant’s sister had been attempting to push food through the bars.

“It doesn’t appear that YM was very emotional,” said DCI Clack. “When she realised that the child was dead she did not appear to be shocked but simply said ‘dead, dead’. There was another child in the flat, a little girl who appeared to be healthy and chirpy.” 

Asked if he believed the toddler had been attempting to feed EG, DCI Clack said: “It looked almost as though she had been trying to care for the child.” 

Professor Anthony Risdon, the paediatric forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortem examination, told the inquest EG was “off the scale of what we normally use” to log the weight of deceased infants.

Describing the baby as “a wasted child”, he added: “The child had been given nothing to drink for days, a couple of days at least. Clearly from what we’ve heard of the history of the mother she would have been unable to look after a child.”   

Westminster Coroner Dr Paul Knapman said he had wanted to hear the inquest in one day due to concerns over public expenditure on the process and felt “exasperated” at having to adjourn because Deirdre Malone, counsel for EG’s family, had not been served with certain evidence. 

Ms Malone had requested an immediate adjournment, arguing the process was “an Article Two inquest” – a hearing concerned with potential failings in care by local authorities.

Addressing Dr Knapman, she said: “Sir, you’ll forgive me if I’m blunt. A child has starved to death, that’s the cause of death. There’s a question whether that child has died on Westminster City Council’s watch. If that isn’t a case for an Article Two inquest what is?”   

Summing up Dr Knapman said: “This is a tragic case. Reference has been made to the hundreds and hundreds of people almost entirely in the public services who’ve been involved in this story. 

“I have no doubt that many many hundreds of thousands of pounds has been spent so far. I had hoped to hear this tragic case today and conclude the matter. However, having heard from counsel representing the father and bearing in mind the High Court’s present view upon these issues, it is with no enthusiasm whatsoever that I agree to an adjournment.” 

The inquest was adjourned to be continued within the next six months.