9 August (Part 3) - Rhys Lawrie. Bexley council’s suspicious behaviour
It
is beyond dispute that from late 2007 when Health Visitors warned Bexley
council of their concerns through to 2010 when school teachers were shocked to see
Rhys Lawrie’s injuries that the council did nothing to help. Rhys’s head teacher phoned
Bexley’s Children’s & Young People’s Services on 15th December 2010 and
spoke to Laurantia Mqotsi,
one of the Social Workers there. The school head’s police witness statement confirms that the
Social Worker promised to “take responsibility”. She didn’t and six weeks later Rhys was dead.
In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Bexley council
did put in an appearance. They met the family and helped out by ferrying the grandparents around
between their home and the hospital. Grandfather Trevor Lawrie says that never did they give any
indication that they knew of Rhys or his brother. Only when the trial evidence bundle fell into
his hands almost a year later did Trevor learn of Bexley council’s neglect.
For more than three years, Bexley council had done absolutely nothing but two
days before Rhys was murdered the council flew into action generating reports
and letters. What a coincidence. Trevor is sure that the documents were falsely
dated to cover the previous inaction but I have no way of knowing if that is
true. However I would agree that the documentation can be questioned.
On a diary style form recording events from 19th January 2011, Ms. Mqotsi
refers to the school teacher’s five week old report but fails to include its date. In the box
marked ‘Action’ she said, using the future tense, “I will contact the parents to write
[to] them offering a time for an assessment next week”. The ‘diary’ was signed off on 26th
January, five days after Rhys was killed. Trevor believes the form was filled in
retrospectively but maybe it’s merely indicative of procedural errors and the calibre of staff
employed in Children’s Services.
Ms. Mqotsi did write to Rhys’s mother or to be absolutely accurate,
a letter was found in the evidence bundle. It was dated 19th January but whether it was
ever sent is a matter for conjecture. It appears to be a less than adequate letter.
One might have thought it would start by referring to the earlier contact
“offering a time for an assessment” referred to in the diary, but it didn’t.
Perhaps Trevor Lawrie is right and the diary and the letter are part of a poorly
executed cover up. A serious attempt to secure a meeting between the mother
and the Social Worker should have provided all the details. Place, time etc. But
it didn’t. The venue wasn’t specified. Once again it could be total incompetence but
the number of such incidents has given Trevor Lawrie good reason to be suspicious.
Bexley council met the police on 31st January. From that day the police decided that
Rhys’s 39 injuries, from brain damage to broken leg were all due to natural
causes. It defies belief but there must be a reason. Was it something said at that meeting?
The Rhys Lawrie blog index.