RIP Baby Star Hobson

Police and social workers alerted on 6 occasions according to the radio report earlier

Poor wee soul. The two women concerned can’t be normal in any way. They must be wicked through and through.

It really is so utterly heartbreaking. Why - just why?

Poor baby.

the bruise on her face was awful, I'm not sure why she wasn't removed from their care

Heartbreaking. Rest in peace baby Star. As the g granddad said Star went to hell before she went to heaven. How could it go on with so many involved? I hope those two women go to hell. They are monsters. They will need to watch their backs forever in prison, separately.

I was truly sickened to hear about this poor child. Her great grandfather and babysitter both raised concerns with SS, how on earth did Star slip through the net? There were so many opportunities to save this child, all of them missed. Yet another tragic loss of a child's life.

JaneJudge

the bruise on her face was awful, I'm not sure why she wasn't removed from their care

I don't think anyone can understand what is going on.

There really is no defence for another failure by social services.
Sorry if that upsets social workers on here but I'm sure this wouldn't have happened on your watch.

I don’t understand why social services don’t take more notice of other family members who express concern about a child they are related to. Family members often pick up on things that outsiders would miss.

Many social workers are young and inexperienced and seem to have little backup from their managers. Cuts in budgets over the last years must also have impacted.

Poor little girl to be treated so badly. It’s disgraceful that no action was taken.

Just unberably sad. And again, they make the same promise that it won't happen again. But with social workers with such ridiculously humongous case loads, it will.

However, if parents say the social worker can't see the child, for whatever reason- then they must insist. If they say child is asleep- makes no difference, If they say child is not there- then get taken to where the child is, and keep at it. But poor social workers are the scape goats here- it is the system which is broken, it is the system that is starved of funds. If you vote for people who starve social services of funds and support - then ...

time to think.

And don't tell me this tragedy is NOT political- it is, 100%.

Google searches made by the vile couple during this period included, “How long can your body last without sleep?; “Bending fingers back”; “How can you dry drown?”; and, “How long can you sit in the cold?”

Like Arthur, Star was sometimes denied food while Smith and Brockhill ate takeaways next to her. Another of their sadistic tricks was to frighten Star into consciousness when she was asleep.

Video clips recovered from her mother’s phone showed her sleeping peacefully, only to be woken up by a loud bang and then the sound of laughter from adults.

Other clips showed the 16-month-old completely exhausted but receiving no love or comfort from Smith or Brockhill.

On another occasion, an exhausted Star was filmed by Brockhill nodding off and falling from a chair onto the floor, while Smith and Brockhill laughed.

Horrible pair. To think they found torturing this baby ‘fun’.

I feel sick hearing about what they did to that beautiful child.

I don’t want to get involved in political arguments - this is about child abuse not Tory bashing. It’s as if it didn’t happen under a Labour government. FGS give it a rest.

And don't tell me this tragedy is NOT political- it is, 100%.
NO IT’S NOT.
It’s about sadistic monsters that aren’t fit to live in a civilised society.

Urmstongran
I will never, never understand how someone could be that cruel to any living being, and to a small child??????
It’s absolutely heartbreaking ? ?

Kali2

And don't tell me this tragedy is NOT political- it is, 100%.

What about all the children who were tortured and murdered when other governments were in power?
Were they political 100%?

I agree that more funding is needed, the law needs to be changed to make sure the child's interests are paramount and social workers have better training so that they are not deceived by these monsters.

However, the bottom line is that these child torturers/murderers are evil.

Another case of child cuelty. Seems to me SS put the parents / carers before the child . The child must always be the priority, no ifs no buts and no mitigating circumstances - children should be removed from abusive parents immediately. Like many others I am sick to my stomach thinking about what these children have lived through. It beggers belief that people can be so cruel.

So soon after Arthur and like him, baby Star had a coterie of extended family who loved her and would have cared for her, all the films and photos show a happy baby when she lived with them. As the grandad said about the mother's lover "descended from the bowels of hell" what an apt description. As in Arthur's case, grandparents and other members of the family not listened to, malicious meddling apparently. I even read the spurious claims of "homophobia" and "racism" could have been thrown in as a reason as to why Star was, in spite of that terrible bruise on her face and other injuries, to continue living with these two women. In both cases these cruel people filmed some of the brutality they inflicted on the poor little souls.

Just so heart breaking RIP Star.

How shocking. Poor, poor little Star. A beautiful little girl at the hands of these psychotic monsters. Unbearable.
All referrals, once again, basically ignored.
What on earth is happening.
Rest in Peace sweet little soul.

A 16 month old systematically abused by a nightclub bouncer/boxer.
Pair of bastards!!!

It is heartbreaking.

Until the preventive services for children are properly funded then this will go on .... and on.

I'm not sure how lack of funding resulted in social services dismissing relatives concerns, calling them "malicious" and ignoring that they were told they would have another Baby P case on their hands.
I work in care, it's underfunded, but that doesn't absolve me of the responsibility to actually care and do my job properly when I am with someone.

This is completely political and yes of course there were cruelty cases under a Labour government, But let's not forget that the Labour government always has to clear up the mess left by the Tories. Any real develpments in care and social services are then destroyed once again by small state Tories. Like the Sure Start initiative which dealt not only with children but with inadequate parents and the extended family. If you cut that, pare social services to the bone and cut all the public services involved in protecting children like education, the police, the NHS you leave vulnerable children exposed. There may always have been instances of cruelty, but so many in such a short period? I think not. Yes the abusers are monsters but it is society which is responsible for failing to protect these children and it is the years of Tory government that are responsible for that failure.