Lessons will be learned from care of children killed in house fire - council

Riley Holt, eight, Keegan Unitt, six, Tilly Rose Unitt, four, and Olly Unitt, three, died in a blaze at their home in Sycamore Lane, Highfields, in February 2019.

A serious case review from the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board said social care services "fell short" in the build up to the fatal blaze.

The children had been placed on a child protection plan drawn up by Staffordshire County Council due to concerns over their mistreatment since July 2017.

Joanna Nicolas, lead author of the review, said the focus from professionals had been on the parents rather than the youngsters who had "extremely limited speech".

Now Staffordshire County Council has said it accepts the findings and is working to implement the recommendations of the review – including issues around neglect.

Councillor Mark Sutton, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "The tragic deaths of four young children is truly heartbreaking and I know the harrowing events which unfolded that night has deeply affected the local community. These children will be deeply missed by everyone who knew them.

"The coroner’s verdict into this incident is that all four children died by 'inhalation of products of combustion,' i.e. fumes from the fire. He indicated that having looked at all the evidence, the most likely cause of the fire was an un-extinguished cigarette.

"A multi-agency serious case review has been conducted into the circumstances surrounding these children’s deaths. As the local authority, keeping children safe and improving their lives is our number one priority, and we have contributed fully to this review.

"The review recognises that the tragic outcome of this case could not have been predicted, but has identified some areas of learning in relation to the issue of neglect.

"We accept the review’s findings, and are continuing to implement the recommendations of the review."

Recommendations include the need for more training on neglect and its impact on children – with calls for groups to "better understand what is neglect and when it is likely to cause significant harm".

The report said the word "feral" was used to describe one of the children when they started at nursery, but said the mother didn't accept – then or now – the children were neglected.

During an appointment with a paediatrician, one of the children "grunted and pointed at things" with the children also sustaining 50 injuries, marks or bruises over 17 months.

The report said the mother was "constantly cancelling" or changing appointments, with the tenacity of the health professionals praised as they "chivvied and chased" her.

But it added: "There is considerable evidence that the professionals were listening to what the mother said rather than looking at the evidence.

"The mother's word for everything seems to have just been accepted and how could the children’s lived experience ever be understood if everything professionals were told was just accepted?

"Each of the mother’s explanations for the numerous injuries were accepted even though on one occasion the mother admitted lying about the cause of one of the bruises. There should have been endless questions from professionals."

The children’s mother Natalie Unitt and her partner Chris Moulton escaped the blaze after jumping out of a window with their two-year-old son Jack, and were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence.

However the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to charge Ms Unitt and Mr Moulton over the fire, which was started in the early hours by un-extinguished cigarettes in the house.

At the inquest last month, Mr Moulton said he and Ms Unitt had been smoking in bed on the evening of the fire and were later awoken by the blaze – but said that he could not remember how they became aware of the fire.

Mr Moulton and Ms Unitt told the hearing that the fire started on the landing of the property, but this was disputed by the fire investigation officer and senior investigating officer from Staffordshire Police who said it started in the master bedroom.