Why did no one save little Elsie? Social services visited gay father who murdered his adopted daughter FIFTEEN times but failed to intervene – even after she had broken her leg and ‘fallen down the stairs’
Social administrations went to a gay father who killed his received 18-month-old little girl 15 times yet at the same time raised no worries – notwithstanding discovering she had broken her leg and had ‘tumbled down the stairs’.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, subjected little Elsie Scully-Hicks to a very long time of terrible ambushes and was heard yelling ‘quiets the f*** down’ at her in his home in Llandaff, Cardiff.
The baby endured a series of suspicious wounds previously Scully-Hicks in the end executed her only two weeks after she was formally embraced by the health specialist and his better half Craig, 36.
Scully-Hicks likewise shook the baby while he was taking care of her and tossed her against a hard floor.
Social specialists paid in any event more than twelve visits to the couple’s home from January 2015 and the combine needed to experience a very long time of preparing, evaluation and gatherings.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, (pictured) was today convicted of murdering his daughter
Selection authorities have now propelled an examination after Scully-Hicks was indicted killing Elsie.
Cardiff Crown Court heard Scully-Hicks marked her ‘a psycho’, ‘the exorcist’ and ‘Satan spruced up in a Babygro’ in instant messages.
Scully-Hicks, who cried when he was indicted, denied killing her yet was today discovered liable by a jury following a four week trial.
The court heard that on January 2015 the couple were gone to by a reception supervisor in the wake of communicating a want to wind up fathers.
Matthew Scully-Hicks, 31, shook Elsie Scully-Hicks before she was ‘thrown against a hard floor’ while he was looking after her at his home in Llandaff, Cardiff, on May 25 2016
Between the meeting and her demise, social laborers went by their home 15 times and the baby endured wounds, had broken her leg and had tumbled down the stairs at the house.
Social administrations in the Vale of Glamorgan now confront a formal examination about whether they missed opportunities to spare Elsie.
Upon the arrival of Elsie’s passing, Scully-Hicks took her looking for an outfit for her to wear at a gathering to commend her selection with family and companions.
He sent pictures of outfits at Marks and Spencer to his better half and bought one for Elsie to wear.
In any case, rather he shook her and afterward tossed her to the ground, leaving his little girl lethally harmed.
The court heard the youth endured a series of wounds when she was separated from everyone else with stay-at-home father Scully-Hicks.
Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said Elsie was discovered lethargic by paramedics after Scully-Hicks assaulted her at his home.
She kicked the bucket at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, after specialists chose she would not survive her horrible head wounds.
Mr Lewis stated: ‘The injuries that caused her death were inflicted upon her by the defendant shortly before he called emergency services that day.
Scully-Hicks had introduced himself as an adoring and hovering father however he delivered a great many injuries on Elsie before he slaughtered her
‘His attack upon her that day was not the first time he had employed violence towards Elsie, nor was it the first time he had caused her serious injury.
‘His actions on the late afternoon of May 25 were the tragic culmination of a course of violent conduct on his part towards a defenceless child – an infant that he should have loved and protected, but whom he instead assaulted, abused, and ultimately murdered.’
The court heard Scully-Hicks additionally sent messages to spouse Craig calling Elsie ‘a psycho’ and ‘Satan spruced up in a Babygro.’
Neighbor Susan Bevan, who lived in the joining semi-segregated house to the couple, said things changed when Elsie moved in.
Mr Lewis stated: ‘On one occasion she heard a little girl crying and ‘the one who stayed at home’ having a rant and shouting ‘shut up, shut up, shut the f*** up.”
Mrs Bevan’s grown-up child, James, additionally heard Matthew Scully-Hicks yelling ‘shut up you little f***ing brat’ and ‘shut up you silly little c***.’
Scully-Hicks had presented himself as a loving and doting father but he inflicted injury after injury on Elsie before he killed her
The court heard Elsie endured a broken leg, simply over her correct lower leg, only two months in the wake of being under the watchful eye of Scully-Hicks.
Throughout the following seven months she likewise had secret wounds on her head and was hurried to clinic in March a year ago after professedly tumbling down the stairs.
An after death examination discovered Elsie endured seeping behind the two eyes and also rib cracks and a skull break which the pathologist said was ‘as the result of an impact to the head.’
Expert pediatrician Dr Stephen Rose said he trusted Elsie’s wounds were caused by being ‘shaken viciously.’
Elsie was first placed being taken care of by Scully-Hicks in September 2015 and the procedure was finished almost eight months after the fact.
Kid assurance boss will now barbecue social laborers about whether they missed opportunities to spare Elsie from her damaging supportive father.
Specialists will examine whether Scully-Hicks could have been ceased before he shook his girl to death.
Social specialists and wellbeing guests noted different wounds to Elsie’s body including wounds to her head and a broken leg.
Elsie was even raced to clinic in the wake of spewing blood – however Scully-Hicks asserted she had tumbled down the stairs.
In any case, authorities didn’t raise any worries which would have halted the selection procedure and conceivably spared Elsie.
Elsie’s selection was administered by the Vale of Glamorgan Council – and senior figures will be tested over their treatment of the case.
A Child Practice Review is being propelled by the Cardiff and Vale Regional Child Safeguarding Board and the test could take up to a year to finish.
They will talk about whether chances were missed with Elsie and whether any lessons can be figured out how to avoid comparable cases later on.
A representative for the board stated: ‘Now that the criminal procedures have closed, the Regional Safeguarding Children Board will look for confirmation that the autonomous youngster rehearse survey, which has just been dispatched, into the deplorable conditions of the tyke’s demise, will be advanced.
‘It would therefore not be appropriate for the Board to comment further until the conclusion of the independent review.’
Matthew Scully-Hicks previously claimed Elsie had fallen down the stairs and hurt herself in the months before her death
Talking outside court, Temporary Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Wales, of South Wales Police, said the conditions of Elsie’s murder were ‘to a great degree uncommon’.
He stated: ‘Our thoughts today are with little Elsie and those who knew and loved her.
‘Her inauspicious passing at only year and a half old has had an overwhelming impact, most importantly on her family, who stay highest in our contemplations.
‘Her untimely death at just 18 months old has had a devastating effect, first and foremost on her family, who remain uppermost in our thoughts.
‘Elsie’s death has also impacted a wider community, including the many professionals involved in her care and the subsequent investigation.
‘I would like to thank all of them, including the many witnesses who assisted the prosecution.
‘This case represents an extremely rare and distressing set of circumstances.
‘We at South Wales Police continue to respect and value the role that adoption, and those involved, play in our society.’
Lisa McCarthy, a senior crown prosecutor inside CPS Cymru-Wales, portrayed the case as ‘lamentable’.
‘The evidence put forward by the CPS proved that Matthew Scully-Hicks was not only responsible for those injuries, but that he intended to seriously harm her,’ she said.
‘The prosecution built a case through careful and detailed analysis of witness accounts, medical evidence and the circumstances surrounding Elsie’s death.’
How medicinal proof assumed key part in persuading jury received father murdered 18-month-old little girl
Restorative confirmation was significant in indicting Matthew Scully-Hicks of killing his embraced little girl Elsie, prosecutors said.
A jury at Cardiff Crown Court got notification from 12 restorative specialists and six specialists who treated Elsie, who reduced the respondent’s form of occasions.
Talking after Scully-Hicks was indicted killing Elsie, Iwan Jenkins, leader of the Complex Casework Unit for CPS Wales, said the confirmation from restorative specialists played a ‘pivotal’ part in the choice to continue with the case and in empowering them to accept there was a sensible prospect of conviction.
He stated: ‘The expert evidence had to be considered in light of showing the mechanical aspect of the injury, how it was caused, the extent of that injury, whether it could be the subject of innocent explanation of children being busy and falling as they often do.’
A jury at Cardiff Crown Court heard from 12 medical experts and six doctors who were able to outline her injuries
Mr Jenkins said confirmation was likewise used to break down ‘the age of those injuries and whether or not the explanation provided by the suspect, the defendant then, was capable of being correct and true’.
He said the CPS planning of the situation where there were ‘only two people that know what happened, the defendant and the victim’, had been very ‘thorough’..
Specialists needed to investigate ‘master confirmation to sort out an exceptionally intricate and troublesome case’, he said.
What’s more, he included: ‘The police investigated the matter, gathered information from surrounding circumstances, from neighbours, from their interview with the suspect, from medical records of the previous months prior to the hospitalisation of the victim in May 2016.’
Mr Jenkins said while the CPS was satisfied with the decision, ‘at last there are no champs, there’s no triumph in that capacity, it is a tragic event’.
He included: ‘It is very sad. Any murder is sad and surrounded by trauma for people who are involved.
‘When the victim is so young and defenceless as this individual child was and that the perpetrator was someone who should have been looking after her, caring for her, making sure she avoided any injury, it deepens that sadness and the tragedy of what’s happened in this case.’