Report finds lessons to be learnt following murder of Leicester baby
Five week old Ollie Davies was murdered by his dad Michael in 2017.
Last updated 26th Mar 2024
There were lessons to be learnt by social services following the murder of Ollie Davis, a safeguarding report concluded.
A review into the death of four-week-old Ollie was undertaken by the then Leicester Safeguarding Children Partnership Board in 2017 and its findings have now been made public.
Paramedics were called to a home in Upper Temple Walk, Beaumont Leys, Leicester, in October 2017, after Ollie’s father, Michael Davis, found the baby unresponsive in the crib next to his bed.
A post-mortem examination revealed horrific injuries including brain damage and wounds all over Ollie’s body that experts said could not have been caused by one incident, but had to be a result of days of abuse.
On Friday, Davis was found guilty of Ollie’s murder. He physically abused his month-old child and caused 40 bone fractures, including a snapped neck, which ultimately killed the infant. The baby’s mother, Kayleigh Driver, 29, was also charged with murder.
The jury at Leicester Crown Court found her not guilty of murder but guilty of causing or allowing the death of a child and causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical injury.
The ongoing legal case meant the board, which included Leicester City Council, Leicestershire Police and local health bodies, could not publish its findings at the time as there would have been a risk they might prejudice the jury sitting on the murder trial.
It has also not published the report in full “in order to respect the rights to privacy of surviving siblings”.
However, it has released excerpts of the full report highlighting a number of concerns over social services’ involvement with the family – both before and after Ollie’s birth – and recommendations to help prevent similar mistakes occurring in the future.
Because of the time that has passed between the review and the report’s publication, the council said these recommendations have now been implemented.
The review found “early opportunities to refer and assess the family were not taken”. Pre-birth work with them was not considered necessary “despite the significant previous involvement which both parents had had with Children’s Social Care”.
It added there was a lack of focus on the father’s identity and a lack of “professional curiosity about his history and circumstances”.
The board also raised concerns about a “lack of clarity between professionals about responsibilities to coordinate and ensure that timely information gathering, and effective intervention occurred to keep practice child-centred”.
Not all the contacts and referrals made to social care services about Ollie were “treated with sufficient care, thoroughness and gravity”, documents added.
This resulted in delays identifying his needs prior to his birth and in addressing the concerns raised by local professionals.
An assessment was initiated after he was born, but this was “not immediately conducted as a detailed assessment within a multi-agency approach”.
Involving partner agencies and sharing information was “compromised at points in this case” and this happened on “more than one occasion and by different partners and local authorities”.
“Some effort” had been made by all the relevant agencies to keep Ollie safe, the report said. The board felt his abuse was “not foreseeable” and partners had not believed there was any evidence of an immediate risk to him.
However, the findings added “more could have been done to explore vulnerability and risk for this family”.
The board concluded: “It is very clear that all the professionals who were involved with baby Ollie and his family worked to help his parents to care for him and to keep him safe. There was a strong commitment from staff and evidence of efforts being made to support the family. There were some procedural issues and systemic shortfalls identified but these would have not contributed to Ollie’s death.”
The board said, going forward, concerns for unborn babies must be referred “at the earliest stage within the pregnancy” and there needs to be clarity around the criteria for making such a referral. It added “clear plans” need to be in place for carrying out assessments “with a clear understanding of the pre-birth guidance and principles”, and services must check information with each other “rather than make assumptions about what is known and what is happening”.
There should also be cross-border consideration about necessary actions to improve the sharing of detailed information between local authorities.
This is required to “ensure that the welfare and safety of the child, wherever they are living, is the paramount consideration taking into account past history of involvement with children and their families,” the board said.
Following the board’s findings, some 16 new measures were introduced in the city to help make sure a similar incident does not occur. The board said it has also “regularly sought assurance that the learning identified following the death of Ollie has not been forgotten”.