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FACTFILE
November
1998: 7 year old Victoria Adjo Climbié leaves
Abobo in the Ivory Coast to live with her aunt,
Marie-Therese Kouao in Paris. Kouao takes the girl to
London after she is pursued by French authorities over
benefit fraud, and the school where Victoria is call in
the child safety team after concerns that Victoria is
being abused.
June 1999,
On arrival in England, Victoria's name is given as Anna
because of the fake identity on the false passport used
to get her into Europe.
Kouao gets a job as a hospital cleaner and the pair live
in a hostel in north London.
July 1999,
Victoria is on a bus with her aunt when they meet Carl
Manning, a bus driver.
Kouao and
Victoria, move into Carl Manning's home in Tottenham,
north London, within days abuse has started.
14th July
1999, Victoria makes the first of many visits to the
Central Middlesex Hospital.
The doctor
accepts Kouao's story that Victoria has inflicted the
wounds on herself by scratching at scabies sores.
Doctors alert child protection authorities as a
precaution. Haringey social worker Lisa Arthurworrey and
PC Karen Jones are assigned to the case. They later
cancel a home visit scheduled for 4th August after
hearing about the scabies.
24th July
1999, Victoria is taken to North Middlesex
Hospital's casualty department with scalding to her head
and face. Doctors immediately suspect that the injuries
have been deliberately inflicted. Kouao tells Lisa
Arthu4worrey and PC Jones that she poured hot water over
Victoria to try and stop her scratching her scalp.
6th August
1999, Victoria is discharged from the hospital and
is collected by Kouao after her explanation for the
injuries is accepted by child protection authorities
1st
November 1999, Kouao tells social workers that Carl
Manning has sexually assaulted Victoria. She withdraws
the accusation the next day.
24th
February 2000, Victoria is rushed to North Middlesex
Hospital suffering from a combination of malnutrition
and hypothermia. Doctors transfer her to the intensive
care ward at St Mary's Hospital in west London.
25th
February 2000, Victoria is declared dead at 3.15pm
at St Mary's Hospital.
Carl Manning
and Marie Therese Kouao are charged with the murder of
Victoria Climbie. During police interviews both claim
that Victoria was possessed.
November
2000, Manning denies murder but pleads guilty to
child cruelty and manslaughter.
Kouao denies
all charges.
Dr Nathaniel
Carey, the Home Office pathologist who examined her
body, found 128 separate injuries and scars, most of
them cigarette burns, he described the injuries as "the
worst case of child abuse I've encountered".
During the
trial the prosecution made it clear that the blame for
the young girl death as not only down to the accused but
also to social services and child protection.
12th
January 2001, Both accused are found guilty of
murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Victoria
Climbié was repeatedly beaten, burnt with cigarettes and
scalding water, tied up and forced to sleep naked in a
bath with only a bin liner to cover her.
April 2001,
The government announces a public inquiry into the death
of Victoria Climbié.
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