Wolverhampton boy Daniel Jones: Condemned to death by devious deception

The 23-month-old child had been under their supervision most of his short life because his mother Emma Bradburn, aged 29, had been badly disabled in a car crash and both she and her partner Simon Jones, 34, were 'recovering' drug addicts, each with a criminal past.

She used part of the huge compensation award from the road accident to pay cash for the semi-detached house in a leafy Wolverhampton suburb where they moved shortly before the birth of the little boy. Officials placed the baby on a child in need plan – one level below what was previous the at risk register.

But they downgraded the monitoring of Daniel because he was developing well, was fit and healthy, had a loving mother and had never been subjected to violence. Two weeks later he was dead – killed by a heroin overdose.

Tests later revealed the child had suffered 'chronic' exposure to cannabis and opiates and 'occasional' exposure to amphetamines and cocaine. A £3,000 cannabis farm was found in the loft of the family's house and cannabis leaves were drying in several upstairs rooms, some just four feet from where the boy slept. Evidence of the smoking and injecting of heroin and other drug paraphernalia littered the bedroom he shared with his parents on the night he died.

The house in upmarket Windsor Avenue, Penn, had been visited several times by the family support worker on the case. There had also been regular meetings at the property, chaired by a social worker and attended by staff from other agencies like health visitors who were also keeping a watchful eye on Daniel.

It was at one of these gatherings that decision was made to end his child in need plan because there appeared to be no reason for continued concern. Welfare workers were not alone in believing Daniel was safe. Next door neighbour Mr Anthony Baker, aged 67, said: "He seemed a normal, happy, ordinary child. I used to have a laugh with him over the fence."

A police officer conceded: "I have no doubt the boy had been loved." Jones – dubbed a 'prolific' offender with more than 50 arrests for crimes including robbery, shop lifting, burglary and going equipped to steal – did not live full time with his partner – described by experts as a 'loving main carer'.

They carefully hid the heroin and cannabis-filled environment in which the boy was forced to live and where he met his needless death. Downstairs was spick and span but upstairs was a seedy drug den.

The ground floor had smart furniture, fixtures and fittings and lots of neatly stacked children's toys. A cannabis grinder in the well-appointed kitchen was the only clue to the fact that things were not what they seemed throughout the house.

It is unclear how many times welfare workers had been upstairs while Daniel was the subject of the child in need plan or if such a request had ever been denied.

Officials stress it is a voluntary arrangement. One explained: "We have no power to even go into the home of the subject. The plan has to be run in co-operation with those caring for the child although you would draw your own conclusion if they consistently stopped you from going upstairs."

Tragedy probably struck after Daniel picked up and swallowed a wrap of heroin belonging to his father. Tests revealed that when the little lad died there was enough of the drug in his body to kill an adult.

Daniel probably lay dead for hours in the bed where he slept with his parents before they woke up. There is evidence that his father had been smoking cannabis in the bedroom hours before the body was found.

A burnt piece of foil used for smoking heroin was discovered in a drawer on one side of the bed while a needle, spoon, Rizla papers used and burnt foil were found on the other side.

Bradburn admitted to police that she smoked heroin while her partner confessed to injecting the drug when he could not get his methadone prescription. Bradburn maintained that she had not smoked cannabis in the bedroom the night before the body of the child was discovered. She also insisted she only smoked heroin in the garage and never lit up in front of the child.

She realised something was wrong when she woke around 6.15am on May 29 last year in the bed in which the trio slept.

She noticed Daniel did not appear to be breathing and tried to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation. Daniel was pronounced dead at New Cross Hospital. The child was sick before dying. The vomit contained a heroin wrap that forensic examination found could be linked to him but not proved to have been swallowed.

Detective Inspector John 'Jock' Smith, who led the investigation, commented: "Daniel was a beautiful kid. He was fit, well and healthy and was developing normally. His death was so needless. The problem was that his parents were trying to deceive people. There was no deception in that they loved Daniel. The deception involved their continuing drug habit that had such tragic consequences."