Adjo "anna" climbie was only six when she left her parents, six brothers and sisters, and the poor, sprawling shanty settlement of abobo, on the edge of the ivory coast capital, abidjan, to live in france with marie therese kouao, a great-aunt she hardly knew.

Her mother, berthe ehoura, 40, and hotel worker father, francis, were thrilled. To have a child educated in europe by a rich relative was "an honour".

Kouao, born in the ivory coast but raised in france, boasted of owning a big home in paris, and of working as an air crash investigator at charles de gaulle airport with a promotion to london pending. "she said she wanted to help us," recalled berthe.Anna, her pretty, third- youngest child, was to have all the advantages she, and africa, could never provide.

When she waved goodbye to her family anna was an excited, happy, well- adjusted schoolgirl. Fifteen months later, at 3.15pm on 25 february 1999, anna climbie died of hypothermia at st mary's hospital, paddington, west london. She had 128 bruises, burnsand belt marks on her tiny, emaciated body. Her legs were so deformed that they could not be straightened. Over many months, anna had been slowly murdered by kouao, 44, and carl manning, 26, a london bus driver whom kouao moved in with just weeks afterthey met on his route.

The day before her death, a cold and unconscious anna had been rushed by a taxi driver to an ambulance station. The driver had picked up kouao, manning and anna outside the universal church of the kingdom of god in north london, where the brazilianpastor alvero lima, 21, had, bizarrely, planned to exorcise the child of the evil spirits kouao claimed possessed her. When mr lima advised kouao to take anna, instead, to hospital, she refused, screaming that she might be blamed for anna's condition.

Among anna's injuries were deep, weeping sores on her ankles and wrists.

While kouao denied harming anna, manning - a loner, whose only previous sexual experience had been with prostitutes - confessed that the child had been punched and kicked, and beaten with belts, metal coat hangers and a hammer.

For about six months, he and kouao had been binding anna's arms and legs and leaving her, trussed up, naked, inside a bin bag, in a freezing bath. Anna, who had become incontinent, was left to lie in her own waste for days, and forced to lap up scraps"like a dog" from a bowl. Meanwhile, berthe was receiving photographs of anna from kouao, with messages that she should have no regrets, anna was being looked after. One of those messages arrived after anna died.

Throughout the trial, kouao, prim, respectable and always carrying a bible, insisted that she loved anna. But unbelievable cruelty was mixed with callous indifference. While anna lay in agony in the dark, unheated bathroom, manning went to work and kouaowent shopping, or chatted on her mobile to friends. When anna was dying, kouao and manning were having sex in the the next room.

The saddest thing is that anna might have been saved. A distant london relative, grace quansah, a former barnardo's employee, admits she should have done more. In the weeks before she died anna was admitted to two london hospitals with suspected"non-accidental injuries", only to be released back to her abusers. And several london pastors misread child abuse as possession by the devil, swallowing kouao's claims that anna was injuring herself.

It is unlikely that superstition lay at the heart of the brutality. The more prosaic truth is that after kouao and manning became lovers, anna, once kouao's access to benefits in britain, became a burden.

Grace quansah and her mother, esther ackah, were mystified when kouao abandoned her job, and three grown-up sons, in march 1998, and turned up, penniless and jobless, in london.

By then anna had spent five months at kouao's paris home, having entered france on a false passport. Kouao says she came to london only to improve her english, but such a claim fails to make any sense. French police investigations have been slow and,except to allude to one son being in prison, kouao volunteered little about her life in france. Her erratic behaviour and frequent rants, in english and french - a stark contrast to manning's chilling, calm detachment - led to regular removals fromcourt.

It is known, however, that kouao was not an air crash investigator, although she did earn pounds 24,000 a year in some kind of airport job. It is also known that when she left france, kouao was being pursued for pounds 2,000 of illegally obtained childbenefit payments.

She has denied using children from the ivory coast to defraud french social security, but police are still investigating the whereabouts of at least two other african children she took under her wing.

What is also certain is that anna, whose lack of english sealed her isolation and reliance on her abuser, was initially kouao's meal ticket in london. Ealing council to pay for the tiny room "mother and child" shared in a hostel in nicoll road,harlesden, west london.

Rosemary macfarlane, a neighbour, recalls anna looking "rough" in april 1998. Her hair was unkempt, her skin dry, and she hung around outside without a coat. Kouao stopped her playing with other children.

Grace quansah remembers anna wearing a "bizarre" adult wig. When ms quansah removed it, all anna's hair appeared to have been scraped off. When kouao confided that she was beating anna because she had become incontinent, ms quansah told kouao to stop.Kouao was already telling pat mensah, a haringey pastor, that anna said "witchcraft" made her wet herself.

Esther ackah visited the harlesden hostel and found anna with a fresh injury on her cheek. When another resident warned her that kouao was "rough" on the girl, mrs ackah says she twice contacted brent social services, anonymously. Brent council claims tohave no record of her calls.

After kouao found a job, anna was looked after by priscilla cameron, a harlesden childminder. Although she was initially well dressed, anna began turning up in dirty clothes and no underwear. In early june, kouao and manning met for the first time inwembley, north london, on his number 18 bus. By then kouao's benefits had been suspended. Ealing council had concluded she had made herself intentionally homeless by leaving france. Within weeks kouao and anna had moved into manning' s cramped studio flatin tottenham, north london.

Mrs cameron lost touch, until kouao suddenly turned up on 14 july begging her to keep anna overnight, and even to take her permanently. Manning was sick of anna wetting his carpets, kouao said.

When anna stayed over, mrs cameron's daughter, avril, was so shocked by injuries to anna's face and hands that she took her to the central middlesex hospital. Ruby schwartz, a consultant, diagnosed scabies and anna was released the next day from thebarnaby bear children's ward, back to kouao.

Just two weeks later, anna was admitted to the north middlesex hospital, near manning's flat, with head burns. Kouao claimed anna had poured boiling water on herself to alleviate the itching of scabies. Anna was filthy, wearing a dirty dress and, again,no underwear. Dr simone forlee thought she looked "like a street urchin", though kouao was very well dressed. A skin specialist could find no trace of scabies and doctors and nurses, suspicious about what seemed to be belt and bite marks on anna's body,began watching "mother" and child. Dr david reyndes felt anna might have been frightened into saying she had scalded herself.

The medical notes make heartbreaking reading, offering glimpses of the desperate actions of a trapped little girl. In the rainbow ward, anna, despite her painful burns, was eager to play with other children. She sang for staff, and was always keen toplease. She clung to nurses, even following them to the lavatory. Kouao said anna would not eat, but she was devouring five bowls of cereal at breakfast.

When kouao and manning visited, bringing no fresh clothes or treats, anna wet herself. She jumped out of bed and stood to attention when kouao arrived. Most chillingly, a nurse saw anna sitting on kouao' s lap, and repeating, parrot fashion: "my mummy isa lovely mummy."

kouao maintained the pretence of being anna's mother, until dna tests, after her death, proved otherwise.

Mary rossiter, a senior paediatrician, had no doubt that anna was being abused. But a haringey social worker, lisa arthurworrey, released anna back to kouao on 6 august, after one week in hospital. Dr rossiter was "horrified" when she found out. Msarthurworrey claimed dr rossiter was not precise about her concerns.

Ms arthurworrey and pc karen jones failed to make a planned, pre-release visit to manning's flat because they were afraid of catching scabies. Instead kouao was interviewed in an office. Ms arthurworrey claimed that she did not see photographs of anna'sinjuries taken at north middlesex hospital. Linda stern qc, for the prosecution, blamed the "incompetence" of ms arthurworrey and karen jones for the release decision that eventually cost anna her life.
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ms arthurworrey did pay an arranged visit to manning's flat on 16 august, and found conditions to be "excellent". Manning testified that anna had been coached by kouao so everything appeared "normal" . In reality, things were far from normal.

Manning was soon referring to anna as "satan" in his diary, and thrashing her with a bicycle chain. Abuse would have been harder to hide had anna attended school. She didn't.

Subsequent social work involvement was minimal, but in november anna made allegations of sexual abuse against manning. Ms arthurworrey dismissed them as a plot by kouao to get a council flat. On 1 december, kouao missed a meeting with ms arthurworrey. Amonth later a spot visit was paid to manning's flat but kouao and manning were in france.

Audrey hartley-martin, a universal church volunteer, saw anna at the church the week before she died. She was shaking and bent like an old woman. She clung to ms hartley-martin. Anna was hungry so ms hartley- martin gave her biscuits and sat her on herknee. Anna smiled. But when kouao turned up, anna jumped up and hid the biscuits.

Anna was not slowly murdered on a sink estate but in a pristine, two- storey block in an owner-occupied development. Two days before she died, police were alerted by one of manning's neighbours and broke down the door of the flat next to his, because theowner was missing.

The worried female neighbour, like the officers, had no idea that a little girl was dying just a few feet away. "i never saw her playing or even heard her voice," she said. "that's what's so awful. I didn' t even know she was there."

a new life in london

october 1998: anna climbie, then six, left the ivory coast with kouao, her great-aunt, for paris

24 march 1999: kouao arrives in london with anna, now seven. Anna is already emotionally disturbed and incontinent

10 june: kouao meets carl manning, described as a "classic nerd" who has never had a girlfriend

18 june: esther ackah, a distant relative of kouao, twice telephones brent social services, warning that anna was in danger

6 july: kouao and anna move in with manning

14 july: anna admitted to hospital with cuts, sores and marks on her body

15 july: anna returned to kouao after she persuades consultant child' s injuries were self-inflicted, scratching caused by the irritaion of scabies

24 july: anna in hospital with scalds, from hot water poured on her head. Nurse grace periera suspects abuse

25 july: dr mary anne rossiter agrees anna is being abused. Social worker lisa arthurworrey and child protection officer pc karen jones are told to investigate

5 august: they interview kouao without visiting her home because they fear catching scabies

6 august: anna returned home after ms arthurworrey agrees with kouao that injuries are self-inflicted. Dr rossiter complains to haringey council. Nothing done

28 october: haringey social services tells kouao the only way to get a council house is if anna is at risk, because kouao is judged "intentionally homeless"

1 november: anna makes sexual allegation against manning but withdraws it. Kouao is believed to have put her up to it

19 february 2000: anna tells pastors at universal church of god she is possessed by the devil

24 february: anna is taken to hospital

25 february: anna dies of multiple organ failure due to hypothermia .


When all said and done the courts held pc karen jones, a member of the haringey child protection unit responsible for anna's death in the fact that she was ordered to visit the house but refused because she wasa told anna had scabie her punishment was to be transfered into a prestigious better payed job at hendon police college.Training new recruits my worry is that the pc training these new recruits is as guilty of little annas death as the aunt and her boyfreind were do we reallyu want police like this on our forces? I say no if you agree withg me please spare a moment to email the link bellow and demand this poor excuse of a woman be kicked out of the job she does not know how to do.


Http://www.Ipcc.Gov.Uk/london_seregion