A social worker who handed over a 10-week-old baby girl back to her parents, who allegedly beat her to death, admitted to being ‘really worried’ about the baby returning home, a The court heard today.
Lily-Mae St. George was just ten weeks old when she died of a serious head injury and also suffered 18 rib fractures, two fractures to her leg, and serious concussions.
The Wood Green Crown Court heard on Wednesday that the child had been discharged into parental care six days earlier, despite protests from hospital staff about the mother’s anger problems and her lack of bond with the child. .
Haringi social worker Theresa Ferguson attended a leave planning meeting at Barnett Hospital on January 16, where attendees expressed concern, but she claims her manager said social services options were limited at the time.
Giving evidence about the meeting, she told Wood Green Crown Court: ‘I was really worried about her going home, the hospital was really clear about her concerns. We really had nothing to do with how the parents were with Lily-Mae.
‘I was told, there were talks with management and there were no ideas for an appointment at that time and Lily-Mae would return home.’
Lauren St George and Darren Hurrell, both 25, are accused of beating their ten-week-old daughter to death eight days after she was released into their care despite objections from hospital staff.
Both parents deny homicide, manslaughter, causing the death of a child or cruelty to a person under the age of 16.
Lily-Mell died on 2 February 2018 at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital after being found unresponsive by her parents two days earlier at her home on Belmont Road, Haringee.
She was born premature in November 2017 and spent the first two months of her life at Barnett Hospital, before being discharged into the care of her parents on 25 January 2018.
Lauren St. George, arriving in court today, and Darren Hurrell, 25, allegedly stabbed their ten-week-old daughter to death
Darren Hurrell arrives at Wood Green Crown Court in London, where he and Lauren St George are charged with the murder of their daughter
Lily-Mell died on 2 February 2018 at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, after being found unresponsive by her parents two days earlier at her home on Belmont Road, Haringee,
A second meeting was scheduled for 22 January, so that both parents could stay in the hospital for some time and celebrate with their child.
While concerns persisted at other meetings, she told the court that Lily-Mae would be sent home with her parents because options, including supervision, were not available in the residential unit.
She said: ‘I can’t answer to management, but that was not an option at the time.’
The court heard that Lily-Mae was referred three times to social services, including to Enfield, where the couple lived at the time of birth, and finally to Haringi when they found housing in the borough.
Ms Ferguson also told the court that she ‘didn’t act in a case like Lily-Mae’ and was assigned this because a more senior social worker was working in capacity and another member of the team was very junior. was.
The court heard on Tuesday that Ms told the couple that Lily-Mae would have to move to a residential unit four or five hours before St George’s called 999 on the night of January 31, 2018.
Lauren St. George – who was described in a report by newborn sister Deborah Hodge as ‘getting angry very easily’ – and Hurrell were homeless for many years and staff tried to stop them from taking Lily-Mae home. , believing that they were unable to see. After that, the gamblers listened.
Medics made a total of three referrals to social services expressing concern before Lily-Mae was discharged.
The staff were horrified when St George told them she ‘hated’ Lily-Mae’s noises and wished she would ‘cry instead of moaning’.
But when physicians told a social worker they were concerned that the parents would not care for the child, they said they felt they were not being taken seriously.
Midwife Mary Creighton said the council worker ‘swept down with a pitiful look on her face’ and insisted that ‘all was well’.
Midwife Creighton told jurors, in a statement about the social worker’s attitude, at a professional meeting on 16 January 2018, in which hospital staff discussed her safety in the event of Lily-Mae’s discharge.
‘I remember her… with a pitiful look on her face in agony.
‘She said she went to Lauren and Darren’s flat and everything was fine and didn’t understand why she was called to the meeting, ‘Why are we even discussing that?’
‘She showed a generally indifferent attitude.
‘We explained our concerns. After that the social worker started changing his attitude.
Ms Creighton did not remember who the social worker was.
St George and Hurrell arrived halfway to the meeting and the attending physician questioned them how they would care for Lily-Mae and when she would be discharged, the jury heard.
Ms Creighton said: ‘I just sat there and realized they wouldn’t cope.
Darren Hurrell arrived at Wood Green Crown Court in London on Tuesday, where he and Lauren St George have been charged with murder.
Newborn sister Deborah Hodge (pictured) confirmed in court that she wrote in a report: ‘Mom was very open about the fact that she gets angry very easily’
‘During this meeting when they were both in the room their body odor became apparent and they got worse.’
Prior to the meeting, Ms Creighton expressed ‘grave concerns’ about Lily-Mae and the couple’s parenting skills, the jury heard.
Ms Creighton said she first met St George and Hurrell at Chase Farms Hospital, Enfield, north London.
“I immediately felt they came across as a couple who needed extra care,” she told the court in a statement.
‘They were both crooked in appearance.’
After this first meeting, the midwives thought that St George’s history was ‘not added’.
‘Alarm bells were ringing in my head,’ she said.
The court heard that St George attended all his appointment with Harrell prior to birth.
Ms Creighton said: “Both came across as wanting to have the baby and seemed happy to be in the situation.”
Following the birth of Lily-Mae, Ms Creighton alleged that St George showed ‘little interest’ in her child.
On 21 November 2017, four days after Lily-Mae was born, Ms Creighton visited St George and Harrell at Barnett Hospital.
‘I told her well for 31 weeks,’ said the midwife.
‘I told her, ‘Let’s go and see Lily-Mae.’
‘ Lauren replied something like this, ‘No, I am having my food.’
‘ Then Darren said that his dinner could wait and Lauren said, ‘Oh well then let’s go.’
The three went to see the child, the gamblers listened.
Ms Creighton continued: ‘Lauren though stood there with her back to the baby … moaning about finding housing, money.
‘Both me and Darren asked her to see the baby and she may have seen it but I’m not sure.’
The midwife said she later contacted the special care unit to find out how St. George was getting on with Lily-Mae.
Trial continues.