People across the country were horrified when seven-year-old Maria Colwell was battered to death 27 years ago.

She was killed by her stepfather, William Kepple, while her mother, Pauline, was in the same house in Maresfield Road, Whitehawk, Brighton.

Maria had been looked after by foster parents Doris and Bob Cooper until her mother and stepfather went to Hove Juvenile Court to win custody of her.

Neighbours in Whitehawk complained time and again about Maria's condition, contacting social services, the NSPCC and the police, but they failed to intervene.

Maria Colwell went from being a happy, healthy young girl to a starving wretch, forced to rummage through bins to get enough to eat.

One night in January, 1973, she was battered by her stepfather so severely that she was dead by the time she arrived at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Today, her brother, Steve Colwell, who was 14 at the time of Maria's death, lives with his wife, Linda, and their five children in a detached house in Hove.

He spent most of his early life in care and admits his sister's death sent him off the rails when he was younger.

He did not want his picture published because he wants to protect his youngest daughter, aged seven, from having to answer the sort of questions he had to answer when he was younger.

She is the same age Maria was when she was killed and they feel the time will come when she is old enough to know the full facts.

But they feel that time has not come yet.

The Brighton child neglect case, where the police, hospital staff, GPs and social workers were involved with the family over a five-year period, has many parallels with his sister's killing.

He said: "We are in another century and yet children are still going through all this negligence and it shouldn't be happening.

"People do try to help children, but I just think social services need more power to sort out what is going on instead of going through all the rigmarole.

"Instead of being told they are not allowed in, they should be able to go in and do what they have got to do.

"I think more could have been done to save those other children going through what they have been through. It's terrible."

His sister was fostered by the Coopers from 1966 to 1971, while he was looked after by his grandparents.

Their mother went to court to get Maria back, despite having had another family with Kepple.

Mr Colwell said: "Maria should never have gone back.

"Every week I go down and put flowers on her grave. I always say 'you shouldn't be here'.

"She would have been 34 this week and would probably be married with children of her own. If Doris and Bob Cooper had kept her, she would be here today.

"Not only did social services fail Maria, even the law did as well because he only got four years."

Kepple was sentenced to eight years for manslaughter, but had it reduced to four years on appeal.

Mr Colwell said: "He only did four years and he kicked her to death. How can you get four years for kicking and tormenting a child to death?

"The anger I felt towards him was unbelievable. I just wanted to put him through what he put my sister through."

The couple involved in the Brighton child cruelty case were cleared of murder at Lewes Crown Court last July after it was ruled there was insufficient evidence to show which, if either, of them was responsible for the deaths.

Mr Colwell supports calls for changes to the law, backed by Sussex Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse, to make both people culpable in similar circumstances, even if only one committed the crime.

Mr Colwell said: "The law has got to be changed. The two people should take the consequences, not just one. If they were both there, then both did it.

"They are both responsible for what happened to that little child. One could have stopped the other one.

"If two of you go on a burglary and you are watching out, you are done because you are an accomplice. The same should be happening in this case."

He wants to see social workers more able to deal with cases where they believe children are at risk.

He said: "They should have more power to go into those houses where they think abuse is going on.

"Social services left a gap, in that when she went back to her mum there were so many excuses made up so they couldn't see her. Within a few months, she was dead.

"If children are in any kind of danger or any kind of negligence is there, they should be removed.

"They did an inquiry into the way Maria died, so it shouldn't be happening again. Children on the at-risk register should be looked at more frequently."

He feels social services are not to blame for this latest tragedy, adding the man had been convicted of threatening a social worker.

He said: "People look on social services as bad people, but they are not really. They have a job to do and should be allowed to do it. Kepple abused social services, he wouldn't let them in. It must have been frightening for them."

Linda Colwell said her children were coping well with this latest case and were following the Argus stories.

She thought the publicity that they have tried to avoid was worth it this time.

She said: "If it's helping other children and stopping them from being neglected, then I think people should stand up and say 'no more'."

The couple, who have been married for 24 years, have never hit their children.

He said: "We don't believe in hitting children. We have five and we have never smacked them or anything. We can talk and get through to them much better than if you hit them.

"Children these days shouldn't be going through any kind of cruelty. They should be playing and happy, doing what they want."

Mr Colwell said that while he could never live in Brighton because of his sister's death, he was grateful to the people of Whitehawk.

He said: "Neighbours at Whitehawk were brilliant. They told social services what was happening, but they didn't take much notice. They reported it so many times that Maria was being neglected, but nothing was done."

Thousands of people in Whitehawk signed a petition calling for an investigation.

A full independent public inquiry, which lasted 41 days, was ordered by Sir Keith Joseph, Social Services Secretary.

An Argus campaign called for changes to the law and to procedures for dealing with children.

These changes influenced the 1975 Children Act and East Sussex County Council produced a document called Children at Risk, which made 71 recommendations for improved procedures.

Every time a health visitor quizzes parents after seeing bruises on a baby, it is a legacy of the Colwell case.

Social workers received more clerical support and training, teachers were given training to help them in cases of suspected injury and education welfare officers were given new rules of practice.

John Sheldon, Conservative councillor for Patcham, said: "Sadly, in this case it failed to protect the three children who died and although two people were charged with murder, they were acquitted on what I believe to be a legal technicality.

"I therefore wholeheartedly support the Argus call for a change in the law to allow parents involved in such cases to be convicted, either individually or collectively."

Mr Colwell said: "I back the Argus all the way to help those young children who are suffering. It's horrible to think it's happening all over again to little children."

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