How can parents do this?

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Message deleted as it quotes a deleted post.

Back in the 1970s a patient at the GP practice I worked for requested her third termination. She admitted she used no contraception otherwise.
The hospital doctors said they'd agree to do it, but only if she also agreed to be sterilised at the same time.
I don't know what the outcome was.

That statement is appalling.

Child abuse is appalling.

I just ignored it. It makes no sense so it wasnt worth engaging with. I could get it deleted but I prefer to leave those statements for people to see.

Did anyone say it wasn’t tickingbird? I remain shocked at what you said. It was unbelievably nasty.

Well the evil pair have been found guilty of that little boy’s torture and murder. She murdered him and he allowed it.

I’ve just read some of it but had to skim through as, frankly, it’s just too distressing.

Yet again, Social Services and the the police have failed to protect a child. I feel grieved for his grandmother and uncle who tried desperately to get someone to listen. They must be tortured by what they’ve heard.

Heads should roll. There must be more accountability for such dereliction of duty. To read of the attempts by his family to help him is truly heartbreaking. May that little boy RIP and hopefully she’ll be kept on suicide watch because death is too good for her.

May little Arthur rest in peace. So incredibly sad but at least he will never be hurt again.

I've just read that she took a photo of little Arthur as he lay dying. It broke my heart to hear that the jury asked to be allowed to hold a minutes silence for him at the end of the trial and were allowed to do so. They have been excused jury service for life. Rest in peace Arthur.

Sadly this little boy was lost in the lockdown and was unable to be in school where he may have been able to say to teachers,dinner ladies or other children what his life was like. There have probably been hundreds of children who have been abused through lockdown because they were invisible.
It would be easy to blame social services for having made a mistake with closing the case. But parents are devious and manipulative. Apparently Arthur was happy on that day when they visited. He was allowed to play with his toys in the garden and the father said he had been fighting with another child which caused the bruises. They presented a completely different picture to the reality of his sad life.
But what about the others who witnessed the treatment of the child or heard his screaming ? Neighbours,other relatives ? There should be a community response to safeguarding children. We can all be their voice to try and protect them. Too many people rely solely on professional services rather than get involved themselves.

According to reports he told his teacher his dad would kill him. She followed it up and was told by Social Services that he had been visited and was fine.

I've heard some sickening things, many stick in the mind, but this case must be one of the worst.
My stomach was churning when I watched the news.

I hope she is never released and doesn't get put in solitary "for her own safety".

Him as well, despicable creature.

I saw this right at the beginning of the court case and cried when I read that he's said his Gran loved him and he wanted to go there. Perhaps the police actually need an army of us Grans to carry out these so called 'welfare visits'. Not many of us would have missed those bruises nor have been fooled by a smooth talking Dad. I understand that the stepmother has already encountered problems in prison. Long may they continue. I feel for his family who tried to get some idiot to pay attention.

The most horrifying case of neglect, abuse and cruelty I've ever read. That poor innocent child, the very age of my dear grandson. How can this happen in our society? I will never understand the depths of depravity that human beings are capable of. Absolutely evil.

Sentencing will be tomorrow.
She's been convicted of murder and he's been convicted of manslaughter.

V3ra

Sentencing will be tomorrow.
She's been convicted of murder and he's been convicted of manslaughter.

He’s equally as bad if not worse. He dumped that boy on her and she didn’t want him. She told him to take him to his mothers and he wouldn’t. She’ll get the long sentence but he is equally guilty if not more so as it was his child. That little child had no chance with a murderer for a real mother and this specimen for a father.

I know years ago children were taken from their parents for spurious reasons and that was very wrong.

But the pendulum seems to have swung too far now, and the rights of parents seem to totally supercede the rights of innocent babies. There are many children who would be far better off adopted by the many loving people longing to offer a secure and happy home to a child.

I know this is a ridiculous thing to say but we're not far from them. Leave him on our doorstep if you don't want him.

Not ridiculous at all Kate. It must be even more difficult if you live not far away and I know that if they had left him on your doorstep you would have given him the best life ever.

We would GSM If only. Breaks my heart.

It would be easy to blame social services for having made a mistake with closing the case

Well I blame them Jaffacake. When they visited and saw Arthur in the garden, they lifted his tee shirt and just noted an ‘old yellowing bruise’ in the centre of his back. They missed the horrendous injury on his left shoulder blade. When asked in Court how they had missed that injury from a photograph taken only the day before they said they were shocked and didn’t know.

I do have to wonder if nowadays, ‘keeping families together’ with some supervision, is the cheaper financial option and that’s why it is so ubiquitous?

It is because of political correctness I’m afraid. People’s rights supersede a child’s rights, clearly. It makes me sick to the stomach.

I know. I see young drugged up parents pushing babies in prams around and it is so wrong.
Even the most unfit parents seem to be encouraged nowadays to keep their babies, and children are growing up in dreadful situations or being passed around from foster home to foster home. Because the parents have rights.

Jaffacake2

Sadly this little boy was lost in the lockdown and was unable to be in school where he may have been able to say to teachers,dinner ladies or other children what his life was like. There have probably been hundreds of children who have been abused through lockdown because they were invisible.
It would be easy to blame social services for having made a mistake with closing the case. But parents are devious and manipulative. Apparently Arthur was happy on that day when they visited. He was allowed to play with his toys in the garden and the father said he had been fighting with another child which caused the bruises. They presented a completely different picture to the reality of his sad life.
But what about the others who witnessed the treatment of the child or heard his screaming ? Neighbours,other relatives ? There should be a community response to safeguarding children. We can all be their voice to try and protect them. Too many people rely solely on professional services rather than get involved themselves.

But social workers should surely be trained to spot things like this. They failed Arthur very badly.

Meanwhile some other social worker is probably making another couple jump through ridiculous hoops in order to adopt a baby. My cousin was told she couldn't change anything her house, even the colour of the walls without informing the social worker when she was going through the adoption process.

The whole system has become skewed.