12 Oct 2001

Foster parents jailed for battering four-year-old

A boy of four died after being subjected to months of cruelty by his foster parents.

Social workers did nothing to protect him even though he was often covered in cuts and bruises.

By the time paramedics were called, John Smith had suffered a brain haemorrhage, his body was covered in 54 visible injuries – including three adult bite marks – and clumps of his hair were missing.

He died the following day, Christmas Eve 1999. Yesterday, his foster parents Simon and Michelle McWilliam were jailed for eight years for child cruelty.

They could not be charged with a more serious offence, such as manslaughter, because it could not be proven which of them inflicted the injuries.

Judge Anthony Scott-Gall told the couple, who had denied cruelty: ‘You systematically set about abusing that little boy, who wanted no more out of life than to be loved and to give love. You made a mockery of those wishes.’

‘It is hard to imagine a worse case. You lied and lied to teachers and social workers, you pulled the wool over their eyes. You are a cruel and heartless pair.’

An independent report revealed that social workers made 20 visits to the McWilliams’ home in Fishersgate, West Sussex, during the six months John was in their care.

On at least seven occasions his injuries were suspicious enough for them to have sought medical evidence or attention.

But Brighton and Hove Council staff ‘too readily’ accepted the lies peddled by 41-year-old McWilliam, an accountancy student, and his third wife, 35.

The couple, who had applied to adopt John, insisted the boy had harmed himself. He constantly threw himself downstairs and into furniture, they claimed, calling him a problem child.

Social worker David Pamely believed them, even though John had no history of harming himself.

For 17 months he had lived with another set of foster parents, Rod and Pauline Mears, who described the youngster as cheerful, polite and twinkle-eyed. John, who was born in May 1995, had been taken into care after his mother Marion Smith was unable to cope and attempted suicide.

His natural father had once been charged with child abuse and was forbidden by social services from living in the family home.

Although John was thriving in the care of Mr and Mrs Mears, in the summer of 1999 it was decided he would be well-matched to the McWilliams, who were looking to adopt a child after fertility treatment had failed.

Few checks were made on personal information the couple provided during an eight-month assessment, according to a report into the tragedy by social services expert Alyson Leslie.

When she contacted McWilliam’s ex-wives, they were horrified at the prospect of him adopting, calling him cruel and violent.

McWilliam claimed to be heartbrokenby the death of his son Sebastian, by his first wife, at three weeks. He had a daughter from his second marriage but during the seven-week trial at Lewes Crown Court he told the jury that he had no contact with her.

Miss Leslie said John ‘was failed by the very system which existed to protect him’ and social workers ‘too readily accepted’ the McWilliams’ lies and became ‘overly sympathetic’ to the couple.

The first report of John suffering injuries came on August 6 – a month after he had moved in.

His new foster mother explained away the bruises on his face and spine by telling the social worker that John had bumped into a table and slid down stairs.

Mr Pamely told the court he was shocked when later that month he saw a red mark on John’s face, apparently caused by a carpet burn, but did not ask the child about it for fear of causing anxiety.

Two days later he visited again and found John with a black eye, and a cut and bruised face. Michelle McWilliam said he had been misbehaving and had fallen from the ‘naughty chair’.

In October, teachers became alarmed when the child showed them a small tear in his penis. In November, Mr Pamely saw marks on John’s jaw. On several occasions in subsequent weeks, John’s foster mother claimed he had been violent and she and her husband felt exasperated and useless.

On December 23 Michelle McWilliam called an ambulance.

Paramedics found John unconsciousin his bed clutching his favourite toy dinosaur.

Simon McWilliam – who said the boy’s admission to hospital was ‘inconvenient’ because it coincided with the end of his university course – turned on the social workers, criticising them for ignoring his and his wife’s cries for help.

But as they sat at the dying child’s bedside, they began to concoct a story about the injuries.

After the verdict, John’s natural parents said in a statement that they ‘cannot begin to understand why their son was placed with people such as the McWilliams’.

His first foster mother had called John her ‘Little Star’ and ‘a rainbow who touched everybody’.

Mr and Mrs Smith added: ‘Lessons must be learned from this tragic case to ensure that this should never happen to another child again.’

John is the latest of many abused children failed by their social workers. Perhaps the worst was that of eight-year-old Anna Climbie, beaten and starved to death by her aunt in London despite the involvement of three social services departments.

Earlier this month, the stepmother of Lauren Wright, six, was jailed for life for beating and torturing her until she died.

Norfolk Social Services had repeatedly been warned Lauren was in danger but did nothing.