Social workers reviewing practices after Melksham child death
Stacey Davis went out shopping while her one-year-old son died at home
Social workers are reviewing their procedures as a Melksham mum begins a two year jail sentence for child cruelty.
Stacey Davis was sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court on December 1 for two counts of child cruelty following the death of her one-year-old son, whom she had left in an overheated room at home, while she ran errands.
A 2019 report found Wiltshire social services had been “distracted by their sympathies for the mother” and that meant they had not intervened in time to save the baby, Ethan Davis who died in June 2018.
Chair of the Safeguarding Vulnerable People Partnership Lucy Townsend said: “A Safeguarding Under 1s Steering group has been taking forward the recommendations from case reviews relating to children under 1.”
She added: “The safeguarding partners – Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Council and BSW ICB – fully accept the findings of this Serious Case Review which provides important learning about how we understand and manage risks to children under 1.”
The baby was left in his cot with no windows open in 27 degree heat.
The post-mortem examination found Ethan also had a fractured skull, but Ethan’s cause of death remains uncertain.
Davis said the fracture was caused by a fall but she did not take him to hospital.
The court also heard Davis regularly smoked cannabis around the baby.
The review found that “generally, there was a lack of consideration of the father as all the focus was on the mother”
The child’s father Luke Turvey said on Facebook: “So a long four and a half years has finally finished today, Stacey Davis has gone to prison for two years for cruelty and neglect of my son Ethan.
“Me and my family are extremely emotional and happy that she got what she deserved.
“And for anyone who backed her and stood up for her I hope you feel like complete and utter idiots and I hope you feel ashamed of yourselves, she is a child abuser and has paid the price by going to prison.”
The 2018 report by the Wiltshire Safeguarding Children Board added that Children’s Social Care admitted the decisions they made for the child should have been scrutinised more robustly by managers.
It also says Children’s Social Care did not “communicate clearly” enough to the appropriate official to set up proper support for the child given his turbulent home life.