Hackney child protection cop reveals all

The Guardian/Observer has published an extract from a book by a detective sergeant who worked in Hackney's child protection team until 2006. In the piece titled - How can a child be beaten to death and no one is jailed for murder - he describes the death of 19 month old Tyrell.

"he had been taken off the child protection register six days before he was killed. Social services had seen Tyrell four times in the month before he died..."

Hackney Council also gets unhappy mention for failing to be transparent about its social services:

"After the Tyrell trial, Hackney council issued a statement: "The area child protection committee is concluding its investigation. Recommendations will be implemented by the respective agencies. Appropriate action will be taken as required if individual failings are identified." But the results of their investigation were never made public.It is precisely this sort of reaction that increases the public's antagonism towards social workers."

However the piece is clear that these social workers often have their hands tied and are doing one of the toughest jobs with the least recognition.