Safeguarding Children

With all the scaremongering that's going on at the moment and the constant claims that children need to be 'seen' to be kept safe, I've decided to add the stories of children who have either been horrifically abused or murdered while being 'seen' on a regular basis by social services or other so called 'professional' bodies.

So every time I come across a new one I will add it to my blog.

Hopefully this will encourage people to realise that being 'seen' does not equal safe. Most of the children who are abused or end up dead are being 'seen'.

Mother Jailed For 'Horrific' Cruelty To Son

A young mother has been jailed for eight years following an "horrific" campaign of cruelty against her two-month-old son, who died hours after the final assault.

Jailed: Claire Biggs. Her lover Paul Husband did nothing to help the baby

In a case with similarities to the Baby "P" case, former crack addict Claire Biggs, 27, dodged a string of checks by health worker as she attacked baby Rhys.

One of her children had already been deemed "at risk" and taken into care.

Against a backdrop of missed opportunities by health agencies and a breakdown in information sharing, she was able to repeatedly crush the helpless child's chest with impunity, fracturing 17 ribs.

As her convicted child sex abuser lover stood by and did nothing, she went on to break her son Rhys' right wrist twice as well as his shoulder.

Medical experts told Inner London Crown Court "severe" force would have had to have been used each time causing "extreme pain".

Biggs admitted that her helpless son - whose blood-spattered clothes were found throughout their one-bedroom flat - once spent eight hours screaming in agony.

Not once did her live-in lover, Paul Husband, 33 - who will be sentenced at a later date - do anything to stop her or help the tiny baby, the court heard.

During his short life Rhys came under the care of two London councils, Newham and Camden.

Apart from the mistakes made by the authorities, Biggs dodged a number of pre-arranged appointments.

When one did finally take place, a health visitor described Rhys as "active and alert", while a senior paediatric physiotherapist who checked his club foot noted no "abnormal marks".

Because the cause of his death could not be established, the pair, of Newham, east London, were charged only with child cruelty - a legal "loophole" that the NSPCC says the Government should change.

Biggs, who has since had two other children - also in care - claimed her lover was the culprit and branded him a "murderer". He denied responsibility.

Both were convicted - Biggs on the basis of "wilful assault" and injuring her son; Husband under a "wilful neglect" alternative for ignoring Rhys' obvious pain and failing to get him medical help.

Judge Lindsay Burn told a loudly sobbing Biggs: "You have been described as an inexperienced and inadequate parent with significant psychiatric issues.

"You have also claimed to have been subject to pressures from your then partner, the co-defendant."

But the judge said he was satisfied she was "fully in control of yourself and responsible for your actions at all material times".

Another article said that Biggs has had two more children since Rhys died.

Shopping

One of the worst jobs I have to do every week is the food shopping. I hate it. I go into the supermarket and feel instantly unwell, I can't think straight and spend the whole time fighting the urge to have a panic attack.

A few years ago I gave up supermarket shopping. Instead I had an organic veg box and got everything else from local shops or from the food co-op that me and two of my 'friends' started.

In the end though I got really fed up with the choice of veg in the boxes and the food co-op came to an end so I was forced back into the supermarket.

I got into a good routine but then the boys started moaning because they wanted to eat meat again. I'm not against eating meat but will only buy organic as it's the only way to guarantee that it hasn't been tampered with. Organic meat is quite expensive so we can only afford to have it once or twice a week. Anyway as soon as we started eating meat again I started getting a bit lazy and began buying things that were really easy to cook and not necessarily all that healthy.

Well this week I put my foot down and said enough is enough. I'll still be buying meat once a week but that's it. The rest of the time we'll be back to our usual diet which is mainly vegan food with a little bit of goats milk and some eggs. I will also be experimenting with a wheat free diet as it's been suggested that some of the awful health problems I've been having lately could actually be due to food intolerance.

And I'll be sticking to Waitrose as I'm fed up with tasteless fruit and veg that turns to mush within 24 hours.