05/06/2008

Investigation Into Baby's Death

An investigation has been launched into the death of a baby girl - killed by her own father.

Twenty-five-year old Gary Allen, admitted to the manslaughter of his five-month-old daughter in Bournmoor, County Durham last year.

His child, Elisha, was classified as "at risk" before she was born, when Allen and his wife Claire Morton, 30, were living in Sunderland.

The couple had been monitored by social workers while they lived in Sunderland.

Elisha died in hospital on 24 January, 2006, just three days after being admitted with head injuries.

Newcastle Crown Court heard last year that Allen, of Torren Road, killed his daughter during "sudden loss of control".

His wife, of Pinewood Avenue, admitted to "causing or allowing" the infant's death between August 2006 and January 2007.

Child protection experts in both Sunderland and Durham are conducting a Serious Case Review into whether the baby's death could have been prevented.

The couple, who split-up three months after their daughter's death, are due to be sentenced by Newcastle Crown Court on 1 August.

However, it has emerged that the baby girl on the 'at risk' register was shaken to death by her violent father after he evaded social services monitoring by simply moving two miles to live in a different local authority area.

At the heart of the investigation is whether vital case notes were forwarded to the new local authority after her parents moved from Penshaw, Sunderland, to Bournmoor, County Durham.

It was there that the five-month-old's father, Gary Allen, 25, picked her up in a fit of rage and violently shook her. She was taken to hospital but died in intensive care three days later.

He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter while his 30-year-old former partner, who has since given birth to another child, has admitted allowing or causing the death of a child.

(DS)(BMcC)


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