Deputy PM asks how Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek could have been allowed to starve and batter boy to death
Nick Clegg has said the murder of Daniel Pelka, who was battered to death after being subjected to a six-month regime of starvation and physical torture, should be on everyone's conscience.
The deputy prime minister branded the treatment meted out to the four-year-old by his mother, Magdelena Luczak, and stepfather, Mariusz Krezolek, as evil and vile, but suggested it was up to the whole of society to stop such tragedies.
Speaking during his weekly phone-in on the London radio station LBC, Clegg said: "Clearly people must have seen something was wrong with this boy. I think his death should be on all of our consciences." He said the serious case review that is under way should show what more can be done to prevent such abuse.
Clegg said: "You always get shaken as a human being when you hear in such detail about such vile and abusive behaviour towards a little child. In this case, what I find it impossible to get my head round is that the mother and stepfather actually starved him. This is in conflict with the most basic instinct to feed your child which is instilled in our DNA.
"We all ask the same questions — How did this happen? What happened when teachers saw this boy scavenging in bins, when they saw him lose all that weight? They apparently did pass information on — why did no one act on it? When he went to hospital and the mum and stepfather spun a web of lies, what happened to the concerns people had?
"So many teachers and people in the NHS and social work that I know have only the best interests of children at heart. It's not a lack of motive. But I think what people worry about is that maybe one bit of the system doesn't talk to another bit of the system and information can fall between stools. That's what the serious case review is all about."
Geoffrey Robinson, MP for Coventry North-West, said Daniel was badly let down not just by "an evil stepfather and an indifferent and selfish mother" but also by his school, health professionals and social services.
He called for children's services director Colin Green to resignw, saying: "He takes with him the indelible stain of Daniel's cruel death, which his department had failed to prevent."
Luczak and Krezolek, who are Polish nationals, will be sentenced on Friday after being found guilty of murdering the boy, whose body was so emaciated that one experienced health worker compared it to that of a concentration camp victim.
During an eight-week long trial at Birmingham crown court, a jury heard that Luczak and Krezolek systematically denied the boy meals and force-fed him salt to make him vomit when he was caught sneaking extra food. He was so hungry that he stole sandwiches from other children at school and dug through bins for discarded apple cores.
The couple kept him locked for long periods in a tiny, unheated box room, which he had to use as a toilet, at the family home in Coventry. They ordered him to adopt stress positions used by torturers and to go on endurance runs around the house. When the pair believed he had misbehaved they threw him into cold baths and his mother once boasted that she had almost drowned him while his sibling, who cannot be identified, reported that he had once seen the boy's head being held under water.
In March last year, Daniel died after being hit around the head by one or both adults and his body was laid out on a bed next to his terrified sibling. Luczak and Krezolek waited 33 hours before calling 999.
Robinson continued: "How can the staff at the school attended by Daniel have failed to have recognised patterns of behaviour that should have set alarm bells ringing, not only within the school but within the corridors of power within the council house?
"How could anyone believe it to be normal for a child to scavenge around bins to access waste; and to steal food from the lunchboxes? What human being, with the slightest understanding of children, would not have been concerned enough to take action to set alarm bells ringing?
"Where were these individuals when Daniel needed them most? Bureaucracy triumphed over common sense, care, and compassion. Those who failed Daniel must examine their own consciences, and conclude whether it is appropriate for them to remain in their posts."
During the trial, it emerged that professionals — including teachers, health workers and police — had a string of contacts with the family and some had raised concerns.
A serious case review is being carried out by the Coventry safeguarding children board. The review had already scrutinised the actions of all the agencies involved with Daniel and the plan is to publish the findings within six weeks once new information that cropped up during the trial had been taken in.
Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: "Crucial questions need to be asked about how a youngster slipped through the child protection net. The indications that Daniel was suffering for some months should have been plain to see — he was disappearing in front of people's eyes."
Luczak's mother, Jolanta Luczak, defended her daughter. She told Sky News from her home in Poland: "I don't know who influenced her. I don't know what kind of man she met, what she did, what she was thinking but please tell the judge that she was a really normal girl. Social services should also be held responsible because they also failed the test." Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.
Nick Clegg has said the murder of Daniel Pelka, who was battered to death after being subjected to a six-month regime of starvation and physical torture, should be on everyone's conscience.
The deputy prime minister branded the treatment meted out to the four-year-old by his mother, Magdelena Luczak, and stepfather, Mariusz Krezolek, as evil and vile, but suggested it was up to the whole of society to stop such tragedies.
Speaking during his weekly phone-in on the London radio station LBC, Clegg said: "Clearly people must have seen something was wrong with this boy. I think his death should be on all of our consciences." He said the serious case review that is under way should show what more can be done to prevent such abuse.
Clegg said: "You always get shaken as a human being when you hear in such detail about such vile and abusive behaviour towards a little child. In this case, what I find it impossible to get my head round is that the mother and stepfather actually starved him. This is in conflict with the most basic instinct to feed your child which is instilled in our DNA.
"We all ask the same questions — How did this happen? What happened when teachers saw this boy scavenging in bins, when they saw him lose all that weight? They apparently did pass information on — why did no one act on it? When he went to hospital and the mum and stepfather spun a web of lies, what happened to the concerns people had?
"So many teachers and people in the NHS and social work that I know have only the best interests of children at heart. It's not a lack of motive. But I think what people worry about is that maybe one bit of the system doesn't talk to another bit of the system and information can fall between stools. That's what the serious case review is all about."
Geoffrey Robinson, MP for Coventry North-West, said Daniel was badly let down not just by "an evil stepfather and an indifferent and selfish mother" but also by his school, health professionals and social services.
He called for children's services director Colin Green to resignw, saying: "He takes with him the indelible stain of Daniel's cruel death, which his department had failed to prevent."
Luczak and Krezolek, who are Polish nationals, will be sentenced on Friday after being found guilty of murdering the boy, whose body was so emaciated that one experienced health worker compared it to that of a concentration camp victim.
During an eight-week long trial at Birmingham crown court, a jury heard that Luczak and Krezolek systematically denied the boy meals and force-fed him salt to make him vomit when he was caught sneaking extra food. He was so hungry that he stole sandwiches from other children at school and dug through bins for discarded apple cores.
The couple kept him locked for long periods in a tiny, unheated box room, which he had to use as a toilet, at the family home in Coventry. They ordered him to adopt stress positions used by torturers and to go on endurance runs around the house. When the pair believed he had misbehaved they threw him into cold baths and his mother once boasted that she had almost drowned him while his sibling, who cannot be identified, reported that he had once seen the boy's head being held under water.
In March last year, Daniel died after being hit around the head by one or both adults and his body was laid out on a bed next to his terrified sibling. Luczak and Krezolek waited 33 hours before calling 999.
Robinson continued: "How can the staff at the school attended by Daniel have failed to have recognised patterns of behaviour that should have set alarm bells ringing, not only within the school but within the corridors of power within the council house?
"How could anyone believe it to be normal for a child to scavenge around bins to access waste; and to steal food from the lunchboxes? What human being, with the slightest understanding of children, would not have been concerned enough to take action to set alarm bells ringing?
"Where were these individuals when Daniel needed them most? Bureaucracy triumphed over common sense, care, and compassion. Those who failed Daniel must examine their own consciences, and conclude whether it is appropriate for them to remain in their posts."
During the trial, it emerged that professionals — including teachers, health workers and police — had a string of contacts with the family and some had raised concerns.
A serious case review is being carried out by the Coventry safeguarding children board. The review had already scrutinised the actions of all the agencies involved with Daniel and the plan is to publish the findings within six weeks once new information that cropped up during the trial had been taken in.
Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: "Crucial questions need to be asked about how a youngster slipped through the child protection net. The indications that Daniel was suffering for some months should have been plain to see — he was disappearing in front of people's eyes."
Luczak's mother, Jolanta Luczak, defended her daughter. She told Sky News from her home in Poland: "I don't know who influenced her. I don't know what kind of man she met, what she did, what she was thinking but please tell the judge that she was a really normal girl. Social services should also be held responsible because they also failed the test." Reported by guardian.co.uk 3 days ago.