13/11/02 - Two social workers fired over Climbié negligence
Vikram Dodd
The Guardian

Two social workers at the centre of the Victoria Climbié scandal have been sacked for gross misconduct, their employer announced yesterday. Lisa Arthurworrey and her manager Angella Mairs were dismissed by Haringey council in north London after a closed disciplinary hearing in September.

The inexperienced Ms Arthurworrey, 33, had been the last social worker to see Victoria alive before the eight-year-old was murdered. Ms Arthurworrey has claimed she was scapegoated by the council and says the death and subsequent investigations have left her broken.

Ms Mairs denied allegations that she tampered with the case file to remove incriminating material before the police and council inquiry began. Both had been suspended on full pay after Victoria was killed by her aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, and Kouao's boyfriend, Carl Manning.

Victoria died in February 2000 after being tortured and starved by the couple. Neither social worker attended the disciplinary hearings but Ms Arthurworrey will appeal against the decision. Ms Mairs offered her resignation before the hearing but her employers refused to accept it.

A spokesman for Haringey council said: "They were both dismissed for gross misconduct following two separate confidential hearings. "Ms Arthurworrey was dismissed on September 17 after a two-day hearing, and Ms Mairs was dismissed on September 19 after a one-day hearing."

The council had tried to have the hearing earlier, but the pair had won a court order postponing it until the official inquiry into the scandal had finished hearing evidence. A spokeswoman for Unison, which represented both women at the inquiry chaired by Lord Laming, said the council should have waited for the inquiry to report before reaching its judgment.

She added: "This was a tragic case. It is clear that there is no one person responsible for what happened to Victoria." Ms Arthurworrey told the Laming inquiry last year that the chaos of the social services department led to the blunders that left Victoria unprotected.

In a statement to the inquiry last November, Ms Arthurworrey said the case left her "on the verge of a breakdown". She said she had to take sleeping pills and anti-depressants every day. She was getting counselling and had become almost obsessed by the case.

"I keep playing my involvement with her over and over in my head _ I feel constantly drained and physically exhausted and this has resulted, at times, in me being completely bedridden."

She said her line manager, Carole Baptiste, was either absent or wanting to talk about God instead of child protection. Ms Baptiste was convicted of failing to testify before the inquiry and fined £500. Lord Laming is expected to send his report to the government soon, which will then decide when to publish it.