Smiling baby learned to suffer torture in silence

THE blond-haired toddler tortured to death in his home is said to have been a happy child with a ready smile.

Deprived of love and attention, he learned to suffer in silence as he was left for hours in his cot or in a play pen in the living room.

The boy’s grandfather said that one Sunday it was 1pm before anyone noticed that the child was in his cot after a friend staying overnight changed her mind about taking him to church.

Even when he had part of a finger missing, eight broken ribs and a broken back, the youngster still managed a smile which masked his true suffering.

Three dogs, including a Rottweiler, shared the family home.

As he grew too old for milk and jars of pureed baby food, he scavenged bits of broken biscuits from older children and was even seen eating dirt in the garden.

His mother sat watching television or at her computer, spending hours in chatrooms, while her boyfriend looked after the child.

She turned a blind eye when the boy was battered and thrown onto the frame of his cot. It was she who came up with explanations for his bruises, blaming the youngster for being a “head-banger” who threw himself on the floor and against furniture.

Social workers tried to keep the family together, not suspecting the mother was harbouring a violent boyfriend in the house.

Maria Ward said she visited the house four days before the death and found him in his pushchair. His bruises had been covered up with chocolate, the court heard.

Ms Ward said: “He was in his buggy. He had eaten a chocolate biscuit and there was chocolate over his face. He had chocolate on his hands and face.”

She said she asked the mother to wipe his face before they went out and the mother started cleaning him.

The baby was pushed into the kitchen and was still there when the pre-arranged meeting ended.

Ms Ward said the boy had a scalp infection, which was covered in white cream, and an ear infection.

But she added: “He appeared well. He smiled when I spoke to him.”

Ms Ward said she had been content to leave the boy with his mother because she appeared to be co-operative and properly supported.

The boy’s natural father said: “He was bouncy and happy to see me. We had a very good relationship.”

But when the toddler stayed with him the weekend before his death, he seemed different.

“His head was shaven and scarred. He looked very thin and withdrawn,” the father said.

His mother said the boy had pulled out a fingernail and he had a bandage on his finger.

The mother was brought up in nearby Islington by a mother with drink and drug problems. She found out only recently her father was not her biological father.

When she was a child she was sent to boarding school where she gained GCSEs, including English and IT.

She lied to the baby’s father about her age when she started a relationship with him.

After they married, the relationship started falling apart. He moved out of their home after she met her boyfriend.

The house was a mess but after a lifetime of dealing with social workers, the mother was able to reassure them. In June last year, she told police “I want to be a brilliant mother, I am doing my best”.

She appeared to have been blinded by love and would have done anything to keep her boyfriend.

She was accused of “sacrificing” her son for her new love and the hope of a new life.

The boyfriend was described by some as simple. He was said to have tortured guinea pigs as a child and tormented frogs by breaking their legs.

He was a keen collector of Nazi memorabilia. Police found a number of knives in the house, along with a German helmet and a swastika.

The mother left him to look after the toddler. When challenged about the screams coming from the child’s room, he claimed he was trying to “toughen him up”.

A third individual, Jason Owen, had split from his wife and gone on the run with his 15-year-old girlfriend. They took refuge at the toddler’s home for five weeks. A hole is said to have been dug in the garden to hide the girl if the police came.

When the boy died, Owen took the mother’s boyfriend to a campsite in Epping Forest, east of London, and is said to have thrown the bloodstained baby clothes into a river.

Timeline of tragic toddler

November 2006: Mother’s boyfriend moves into her home but this is kept from police and social workers.

December: Mother arrested after bruises spotted on baby’s face and chest by a GP. She denies causing injury. He is placed on child protection register.

February: Maria Ward is appointed as their social worker.

April: Child admitted to North Middlesex hospital with bruises, black eyes and swelling on the left of his head. The mother claimed it was from a fall onto a marble fireplace.

June: Marks seen on boy’s face by Ms Ward. She sends him to hospital where 12 areas of bruises and scratches are found. Mother blames another child but is re-arrested.

July 9: Violence increasing at home. Child taken to A&E for “scalp rash” and “ear discharge”.

July 24: The boy is likely to have suffered rib injuries, violence increasing.

July 30: Social worker Ms Ward pays a pre-arranged home visit. She misses injuries to the boy’s face and hands after he is deliberately smeared with chocolate to hide them.

August 1: Baby is taken to a child development clinic at St Ann’s Hospital. Mother and her friend support the child during examination and Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat misses his broken back and ribs despite the child crying in pain.

August 2: Boy receives fatal blow to the mouth, knocking his tooth out.

August 3: The boy is found dead in his cot.