Star Hobson’s family warned social services ‘we don’t want another Baby P’

Star’s great-grandfather David Fawcett, 61, said his partner Anita Smith, 70, called social workers in May 2020, after family members told her Savannah Brockhill was “slam-choking” the toddler – lifting her by the throat and throwing her on a bed.

Ms Smith’s call was one of five referrals to social services in the nine months before Star was killed on September 22 2020. One from another of her great-grandfathers was closed days before her death.

Mr Fawcett said Brockhill convinced those who inspected that everything was fine and the social workers decided “it’s just malicious gossip, so we’ll leave it at that”.

On Tuesday Brockhill, 28, was convicted of murdering Star while Star’s mother, Frankie Smith, was cleared of murder at Bradford Crown Court but convicted of causing or allowing the toddler’s death.

Each time, the trial heard, Brockhill and Smith convinced social workers that bruising on Star was accidental or the complaints were made maliciously by friends and family who did not like their relationship.

Mr Fawcett, a postman from Baildon, Bradford, said: “When Anita made her complaint, she actually said, ‘look, we don’t want another Baby P on our hands here, do we?’.

“The lady on the phone from social services said, ‘how do you mean?’, and we were shocked at her reaction.

“Well, Baby P died through abuse, and we’re making a complaint. My first reaction would have been, ‘yeah, right, we’re on the ball, we’ll sort this one out, we don’t want another Baby P. Especially with them being the social services.

“It just came across as being a bit shambolic, really, Absolutely shambolic.”

Mr Fawcett, who is Smith’s grandfather, said they decided to approach the authorities when family members told them Brockhill was “slam-choking” Star and threatening to shave off her hair.

He said Brockhill was prepared for the subsequent visit and they were told that the social worker concluded: “It sounds to me like it’s just malicious gossip so we’ll leave it at that.”

He added: “We weren’t there. They never came to us. We never heard anything else. The next thing we heard the case was closed. Anita was shocked. She said, ‘you’d have thought they would’ve come down to chat with us’.”

Mr Fawcett confirmed their call was one of five referrals to social services in 2020.

He said: “Maybe you miss it with one, two… but five? I just find it highly unacceptable, especially as they didn’t get back to us.”