BIRMINGHAM, England, July 27 (UPI) -- A 7-year-old girl starved to death in England because social service agencies failed to respond to reports from her school, a case report review said Tuesday.
The serious case review of Khyra Ishaq's death was the first ever released to the public, the BBC reported. The review said that Khyra's mother and stepfather beat and starved the girl and her siblings.
Angela Gordon and Junaid Abuhamza of Birmingham pleaded guilty to manslaughter and are now in prison. They also pleaded guilty to five counts of child cruelty.
Gordon removed Khyra from school a few months before her death in 2008. A school official said she called social services four times in a single day and visited the home where Gordon refused to admit her, The Guardian said.
"She was agitated by our presence. We didn't see the children," the official told investigators. "Social services said the referral didn't warrant initial assessment."
A medical examiner said that when Khyra died she weighed about as much as a healthy toddler. Two of her siblings were so starved they were unable to eat regular food when they were removed from the home.
Hilton Dawson of the British Association of Social Workers told The Daily Telegraph that case workers are fearful of complaints by parents. He said even an unjustified complaint can lead to a "mountain of paperwork."
