ABSTRACT
The public inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié drew significant national and international attention to the failings of public agencies to protect a vulnerable child.
When Victoria was admitted to the North Middlesex Hospital on the evening of 24 February 2000 she was desperately ill. She was bruised, deformed and malnourished. Her temperature was so low it could not be recorded on the hospital’s standard thermometer. Dr Lesley Alsford, the consultant responsible for Victoria’s care on that occasion, said, ‘I had never seen a case like it before. It is the worst case of child abuse and neglect that I have ever seen’.
