Baby death was not preventable (From The Argus)

Baby death was not preventable

10:55am Sunday 14th October 2012 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter

A baby girl’s violent death could not have been stopped by local agencies, a report into the tragedy is set to say. 

The initial findings of a serious case review into the killing of 11- month-old Crystal Hall-Hummel has found that the youngster’s death was “not predictable and therefore could not have been prevented”.

Crystal, who lived with her mother Georgina Hall in Worthing, died in May 2011.

A jury at Lewes Crown Court at the end of September found 28- year-old Jerome Edwards, described by Miss Hall as “evil”, guilty of her manslaughter.

The court was told that Edwards, who was of previous good character, had shaken the baby at his then home in Nursery Lane, Worthing, after losing his temper with her.

This caused the child massive brain injuries and she died in hos- pital. Edwards, who denied killing Crystal, was jailed for eight years.

After the trial a serious case review was launched, as is usual in such cases.

A safeguarding board including West Sussex County Council, Sussex Police and health officials investigate if any improvements could have been made in light of the baby’s death.

Crystal and her family were known to the council’s social services team, although the baby was not and had never been on the “at risk” register.

She had been on the “child in need” register, although she was not believed to be on the register at the time of her death.

With regards to the early findings of the review, a council spokeswoman said: “The West Sussex Local Safeguarding Children Board is in the process of conducting an independent Serious Case Review on behalf of all the agencies involved, includ- ing West Sussex County Council.

“The initial findings are that this tragic incident was not predictable, and therefore could not have been prevented.”