Parents plead guilty to neglecting girl found hanged in her bedroom

Parents Of Hanged Notts Girl Arrested

The parents of an eight-year-old girl found hanged in her bedroom at home have been arrested in connection with her death.

Simon and Susan Moody were interviewed under caution immediately after finding Charlotte Avenall's body at their home in Mansfield last month.

The young girl, who had severe learning disabilities, was discovered hanged in her bedroom on September 12.

Mr Moody, 32, and his 24-year-old wife Susan have been arrested in connection with her death.

Following her death, Nottinghamshire County Council's social services department said it would be reviewing the care and support it offered Charlotte and her family.

She was known to social services from birth and attended Birklands Primary School in nearby Warsop.

A post-mortem examination carried out at Leicester Royal Infirmary last night confirmed the cause of the girl's death at her home in Moor Street as hanging.

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That poor child At least the parents didnt get away with it!

Parents plead guilty to neglecting girl found hanged in her bedroom

An eight-year-old girl found hanged in her filthy bedroom had been "abandoned to her fate" despite years of involvement by social services, a court heard.

12 Mar 2010

Charlotte Avenall was found dead in a the "foul and disgusting" room with faeces smeared on the walls, floor, bedding, and soft toys.

Neither her mother, Susan Moody, stepfather, Simon Moody, nor any other adult had set foot there for at least a month before her death on September 12 last year.

Susan and Simon Moody both admitted child cruelty between August 14 and September 12 last year when they appeared before Nottingham Crown Court.

They admitted they "did wilfully neglect, abandon or expose Charlotte in a manner likely to cause her unnecessary suffering or injury to health".

It will be up to a later inquest to decide whether Charlotte's death at the family's terraced home in Moor Street, Mansfield, Notts, was deliberate or accidental.

But it believed she died in her sleep after a length of cord with soft toys attached to it became tangled round her neck.

The case comes as the mother and stepfather of seven-year-old starvation victim Khyra Ishaq were jailed for her manslaughter. Angela Gordon was handed a 15 year sentence while Junaid Abuhamza was jailed indefinitely for the public's protection, with a minimum term of seven and a half years.

The latest cases have again raised questions about the efficacy of social services staff. It emerged during the trial of Gordon and Abuhamza that Birmingham City Council was aware of concerns about the child's welfare almost five months before her death.

Charlotte, who attended a special school, is also thought to have been in the habit of smearing faeces around her room.

Her parents spoke only to answer to their names and enter guilty pleas as they stood side by side in the dock.

William Harbage, QC, prosecuting, told the court: "Nobody had been in Charlotte's bedroom for a period of four weeks or more before her death.

"Her room was in a absolutely foul and disgusting state with faeces smeared all over the walls, floor, bedding and soft toys.

Mr Harbage said the prosecution accepted Susan Moody had been "unwell" at the relevant time but the extent of that illness was "open to dispute".

Mr Harbarge added: "Each parent had a duty of care for Charlotte and each should have checked the room.

"If they did not do so themselves they had a duty to make sure that each other did so, or they should have made sure an outside agency did.

"She did not ensure her husband did so and she did not ensure that social services or any other outside agency did so.

"Effectively they abandoned Charlotte to her fate and left her at risk to health and unnecessary suffering."

Judge Joan Butler, QC, adjourned the case for reports until April 9 and granted the couple bail until then.

An immediate investigation was launched after Charlotte's death when it became known she suffered from severe learning difficulties and was known to welfare services.

It later emerged social services and other agencies had been closely involved with Charlotte her whole life as her mother was only 16 and living in foster care when she was born.

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire County Council said:"A serious case review is underway which is being caried out by the Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board.

"Until that it is complete we will not be commenting."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7430464/Parents-plead-guilty-to-neglecting-girl-found-hanged-in-her-bedroom.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8564546.stm

It sounds like Charlotte was profoundly autistic. Smearing of faeces is quite common in such badly affected children, but it doesn't make sense to me why Charlotte was left with her mother, rather than being placed in a specialist residential unit. Social services must have known that her mother was not capable of giving the level of care required, but the problem was possibly that specialist residential care costs around £4,000 a week and it's much cheaper to leave a child in an unsuitable home since she cannot complain.