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Carers guilty of murdering boy
27 Mar 2010- Tributes pour in for tragic Houston
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Another council has come under scrutiny over a horrific child abuse case after a baby-sitting couple were found guilty of murdering a three-year-old boy just hours after he was seen by a housing support officer.
Wolverhampton City Council pledged to establish whether lessons can be learned from the murder of Ryan Lovell-Hancox, who was neglected, abused and beaten by Kayley Boleyn and Christopher Taylor.
Boleyn, 19, and Taylor, 25, both face mandatory life sentences after being convicted of murder and child cruelty by a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The couple inflicted more than 70 injuries on Ryan, who died in hospital on Christmas Eve in 2008, two days after suffering a fatal brain injury.
Both defendants blamed each other for Ryan's injuries, but jurors took seven hours to convict the pair of murdering the toddler in an attack at their flat in Slim Avenue, Bilston, West Midlands, on December 22, 2008.
The defendants, who will be sentenced later this year, had been looking after Ryan for almost a month after his mother agreed to pay them to care for him.
Wolverhampton City Council refused to discuss the details of a serious case review into Ryan's death, but the trial of his killers heard he was seen at their bedsit by a housing support officer hours before the attack which led to his death.
The court heard the officer, who gave Boleyn a lift to a job centre, assumed Ryan was asleep after seeing one of his legs sticking out from under bedding.
Council officials confirmed Ryan was not the subject of a child protection plan and was not judged to be "at risk" by child care professionals who came into contact with him.
It is believed the serious case review is scrutinising social services' contact with Boleyn, as well as the actions of housing support officers working for a charity which helps young people after they leave care.
Reader views (2)
Another enquiry, lessons will be learnt, it will not happen again, till next time.
- Shallotman, Basildon, 26/03/2010 20:10
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I won't be able to go to sleep tonight with what I've just read. These animals should be done the same to them.
- Marisa, Europe, 26/03/2010 19:35
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