Ban overturned for Climbie social worker

A social worker who was sacked and banned from working with children, following the death of Victoria Climbie, has had her ban overturned.

Lisa Arthurworrey was dismissed from her position with Haringey Council, north London and banned from working with children, after eight-year-old Victoria died, following a long period of abuse and neglect.

Ms Arthurworrey, a junior social worker, was assigned to Victoria’s case in 1999. However, six months later, in 2000, the child died. She was found to have 128 separate scars on her body.

Victoria’s great aunt Marie Therese Kouao and her boyfriend Carl Manning received life sentences for her murder in 2001.

Ms Arthurworrey was sacked for gross misconduct in 2002. Charles Clarke, who was Education Secretary at the time, banned Ms Arthurworrey from working with children again, because of her failure to spot the signs that Victoria was suffering from serious abuse and neglect.

However, a tribunal hearing was told that Haringey Council was “chaotic” at the time of Victoria’s death and suffered from a lack of proper leadership and supervision.

The tribunal dismissed 11 allegations of misconduct against Ms Arthurworrey and said that she was “a straightforward and caring individual, who has fully acknowledged the mistakes she made in connection with this case”. She was also described as being “another victim” of the failures at Haringey Council and the ruling stated that she did not warrant permanent exclusion from the childcare profession.

Speaking to BBC’s ‘Today’ programme, Ms Arthurworrey said: “I am not a danger to children and this judgement shows that. I made many serious mistakes, however it is also true that I was badly let down by my employers and had I been working in a different environment, maybe those mistakes wouldn’t have been.”

Ms Arthurworrey said that she would now give “careful consideration” to the thought of resuming a career in social work again.

Last month at the High Court, Angella Mairs, who was Ms Arthurworrey’s manager at the time of Victoria’s death, also won an appeal allowing her to work with children again.

(KMcA/SP)