Star Hobson: Council that failed little girl who was murdered by mum’s lover is stripped of children’s services

THE council that failed little Star Hobson who was murdered by her mum’s lover has been STRIPPED of it’s children’s services.

Sixteen-month-old Star was tortured by her feckless mum Frankie Smith, 20, and 28-year-old self-styled ‘number one psycho’ Savannah Brockhill.

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Relatives and friends had growing fears about bruising they saw on Star and they made a series of complaints to social services.

But each time, Brockhill and Smith managed to convince Bradford Council social workers that marks on Star were accidental – or that the complaints were made maliciously by people who did not like their relationship.

Now, the council has been stripped of its children’s and social care services in a move hoped to bring “positive change” to the area.

The services will be taken into a trust which will “drive rapid improvements” after recommendations from Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to the Children’s Services Commissioner in the West Yorkshire city.

Mr Zahawi said in a statement: “Keeping vulnerable children safe from harm is non-negotiable.

“Where a council is not meeting its duty to do this, we will take action to protect children and put their needs first.

“It’s clear from the recommendations made by the Commissioner in Bradford that the council needs support to improve and so I’m pleased that Bradford council have agreed to establish a new trust that will bring positive change for the council and independent oversight that drives improvements.

“This is an important moment for children and families in Bradford, and for social workers and other professionals who want to create meaningful and effective relationships with them.

“These professionals take highly complex decisions each day to protect children, and I am grateful for the effort that goes into each one.”

Shameless Brockhill was jailed for a minimum of 25 years at Bradford Crown Court last month after stamping her lover’s daughter to death.

The court heard she caused little Star “utterly catastrophic” injuries after waging a campaign of brutal emotional and physical abuse.

Now the former bouncer is serving life with a minimum term of 25 years at Styal prison, in Cheshire.

But it was last week revealed that Brockhill is planning to appeal her conviction – on the premise that it was Smith who delivered the fatal blow which killed the tot.

SICK ADMIRERS

And her family believe that the murder trial was loaded against her because she’s from a traveller clan – believing that’s why Frankie Smith was not deemed to have committed the murder.

Her father Daniel, 53, claims the prosecution made sure to point out that his daughter was a gipsy from the outset during the trial.

Mr Brockhill, who sells horses, pedigree dogs and caravans, told the Daily Mail: “If she’d been African, Indian, Chinese, they wouldn’t have been allowed to say that because that would be instantly racist, but it was acceptable to say she was a gipsy from the travelling community.”

But trial transcripts reveal that her traveller background wasn’t mentioned in the prosecutor’s opening speech.

Instead, Brockhill herself mentioned her heritage and described herself as “an English gipsy” during her cross-examination.

Daniel Brockhill lives with his wife Hollie in a new-build home in a coastal village in Lancashire, along with two of their seven children.

They also own a compound with luxury caravans and chalets, worth £1.5million.

Daniel added: “We are not dossers, people who left their kids to go to the pub.

“We work and pay tax. But our opinions don’t count because we are gipsies.”

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