Victoria Climbié murder case

Adjo Victoria Climbié (Saturday, November 2 1991 – Friday, February 25 2000), better known as Anna Climbié or Victoria Climbié was born in Abobo near Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and aged seven was sent by her parents to Europe with her great-aunt Marie Thérèse Kouao for a chance for an education. They travelled first to France, and then to England. In London, Kouao met bus-driver Carl Manning, and she and Victoria moved into his flat in Tottenham in July 1999. Here, Victoria was abused by both Kouao and Manning. She was admitted to casualty on February 24, 2000, unconscious and suffering from hypothermia; she died the next day. The Home Office pathologist noted 128 separate injuries and scars on her body.

Marie Thérèse Kouao and Carl Manning were charged with child cruelty and murder. During police interviews, both claimed that Victoria was possessed. Their trial ran from November 2000 to January 12, 2001. Both were found guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Victoria's murder led to a public inquiry, chaired by Lord Herbert Laming which investigated the role of social services, the National Health Service and the police in her death. The Laming report found that on at least 12 occasions care workers could have saved her life. The highly critical report has lead to further reforms of the way in which child protection measures are implemented in the UK, including the creation of a Universal Child Database to keep track of every child in Britain in order to better co-ordinate the notes of doctors and social workers.

Related articles

• Laming report
• child murder
• child abuse
• UK topics

External links

• Victoria Climbié Inquiry in depth from the BBC
  • including a timeline of Victoria's life and the inquiry
• The Climbié Inquiry in depth from The Guardian
  • including timeline
• Official Victoria Climbié Inquiry website
  • including timeline
  • and the Laming Report as an HTML document