Daniel Pelka was murdered by his mother and stepfather in March 2012. For a period of at least six months prior to this, he had been starved, assaulted, neglected and abused. His older sister was expected to explain away his injuries as accidental. His mother and stepfather acted together to inflict pain and suffering on him and were convicted of murder in August 2013, both sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment
Jurors were told Daniel weighed just 1st 7lb when he was discovered by paramedics, 15lb below the average weight for a child of his age. Despite attempts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead in hospital on March 3, 2012.
Prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC said the state of the boy's tiny body had left even experts in child death shocked.
He said: 'Daniel was subjected to a campaign of incomprehensible and escalating cruelty. His body was described as “shockingly thin” by doctors and an expert in child deaths said a lay person would compare it to a child starving in a concentration camp in the Second World War. When doctors tried to measure his BMI (body mass index) it was too low to be measured on the scale.'
Missed opportunities to protect Daniel and potentially uncover the abuse he was suffering occurred:- at the time of his broken arm in January 2011, which was too readily accepted by professionals as accidentally caused. when the school began to see a pattern of injuries and marks on Daniel during the four months prior to his death, these were not acted upon. at the paediatric appointment in February 2012 when Daniel’s weight loss was not recognized, and child abuse was not considered as a likely differential diagnosis for
Daniel’s presenting problems.
Public opinion:
How on earth can the Headmaster think this poor boy had a medical condition when he saw him scrounging for food in a waste
