Review into starvation death due

Khyra Ishaq starved to death in her own home in Birmingham
12 April 2012

A serious case review into the death of a seven-year-old girl who starved to death will be published today.

The report, by Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board, comes more than two years after Khyra Ishaq died at her home in the city.

Following months of starvation and cruelty at the hands of her mother and stepfather, Khyra died in May 2008 when her body succumbed to an infection.

In March, Mr Justice Roderick Evans sentenced her mother, Angela Gordon, 35, to 15 years and jailed her former partner, Junaid Abuhamza, 31, indefinitely for the public's protection, with a minimum term of seven and a half years.

The pair were cleared of Khyra's murder during a trial at Birmingham Crown Court but convicted of manslaughter.

During the trial it emerged that Khyra had been removed from school in December 2007 and subjected to a punishment regime which included standing outside in the cold for long periods, having cold water poured over her and being beaten with a bamboo cane.

She and five other children in the care of Gordon and Abuhamza at their Handsworth home were deprived of food and prevented from entering the fully stocked kitchen by a bolt fixed out of their reach on the door.

Birmingham City Council, which was aware of concerns about Khyra's welfare almost five months before her death, came under fire within days of the tragedy.

It emerged during the trial that the council had been notified of concerns about her welfare when she was withdrawn from school and that the deputy head teacher made three phone calls to social services within the space of 24 hours to express concerns.

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