A miserable, lonely death
The eight-year-old, who was sent to Europe from her home in Ivory Coast to get a better education, died in February 2000 with 128 injuries to her body.
She had been starved and beaten with coat-hangers and bicycle chains.
Victoria’s great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, brought her to Britain with the prime intention of using her to claim social security benefits. When Victoria’s usefulness as a meal ticket failed, Kouao and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, treated the defenceless little girl with breathtaking cruelty.
Victoria was trussed in a bin bag and made to sleep in the unheated bathroom, left alone to sit in her own urine and faeces.
In January 2001, the couple were jailed for life for her murder.
A postmortem examination carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Nathaniel Carey concluded that Victoria died from hypothermia.
