What is wrong with people? Star Hobson murder

[Iamnotkloot]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/14/mother...

Is it just me or does this (parent/s attacking kids) seem to be happening more and more often? Or is it just reported more?

[vulture1]

Reported more.

[Eric Mc]

Has happened since the dawn of time. It isn't happening more. It's not even being reported more. However, it is being reported nationally and internationally using multiple media so we get to hear about far more of such instances than we used to.

[conkerman]

I'm with Eric. This stuff has been happening since year dot. But now even the smallest local paper has international reach so you hear about things much more.

[deckster]

Go back 100,200 years and more - child abuse, both physical and sexual, was rife and just accepted as part of growing up. In the same way that domestic violence was normal - it was genuinely accepted and expected that the man owned his family and could, by and large, do what he wanted behind his front door. Of course it wasn't always limited to men, and it wasn't always brushed under the carpet particularly in the most egregious cases, but for sure there was a lot of exceptionally unpleasant treatment of children that was largely ignored.

It's relatively recently - the last 50 years maybe, and only formally since 1989 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - that childrens' rights have really been acknowledged. And even today, you still get the odd attitude along the lines of "my dad used to beat me with his belt and it never did me any harm".

[98elise]

Eric Mc said:

Has happened since the dawn of time. It isn't happening more. It's not even being reported more. However, it is being reported nationally and internationally using multiple media so we get to hear about far more of such instances than we used to.

This.

My mother was a children and families social worker for decades. Nothing much has changed in all that time, other than it's harder to take kids into care these days.

[anonymous-user]

vulture1 said:

Reported more.

This.

[TRIUMPHBULLET]

An evil pair to do this horrific thing to a child, what sort of world were they brought up in to think it was acceptable?
More importantly, how did this slip through the net?
More lessons to be learnt no doubt.

[stitched]

TRIUMPHBULLET said:

An evil pair to do this horrific thing to a child, what sort of world were they brought up in to think it was acceptable?
More importantly, how did this slip through the net?
More lessons to be learnt no doubt.

Utterly horrific.
But when the social care department are dealing with hundreds, probably thousands, of cases they triage.
Slips like this are, unfortunately, inevitable.
Could be they failed in their duties, in which case sack them and vilify them, could also be they were more concerned with the 10% judged more at risk.
I do agree that in this day and age the 'lessons to be learnt' is thoroughly worn out.

[Randy Winkman]

TRIUMPHBULLET said:

An evil pair to do this horrific thing to a child, what sort of world were they brought up in to think it was acceptable?
More importantly, how did this slip through the net?
More lessons to be learnt no doubt.

I'd say that the conventional explanation is that they were brought up in a world where they got the same treatment. An extreme example is Rose West. That's not to excuse her; it's just an explanation.

[stitched]

Randy Winkman said:

TRIUMPHBULLET said:

An evil pair to do this horrific thing to a child, what sort of world were they brought up in to think it was acceptable?
More importantly, how did this slip through the net?
More lessons to be learnt no doubt.

I'd say that the conventional explanation is that they were brought up in a world where they got the same treatment. An extreme example is Rose West. That's not to excuse her; it's just an explanation.

Oddly enough I read a book someone had left in work recently, it was about a young girl who had got a life sentence in Thailand for drug smuggling, when she was finally allowed to continue her sentence in the UK she met a fellow inmate who was supportive, protective and an , I paraphrase here, absolute angel.
It was Rose West, funny world sometimes.

[Panamax]

98elise said:

it's harder to take kids into care these days.

Which is a good thing. Hand-wringers see "taking into care" as a magic solution yet all the evidence says that it's not.

In the current case the real question IMO is where were the close family and friends when all this was going on? It seems highly likely there were people who knew all about it, said nothing and will now be blaming "the system" for their own inaction. What a mess.

[rover 623gsi]

The poor baby’ own grandparents alerted social services but were ignored

Absolutely tragic

[Panamax]

rover 623gsi said:

The poor baby’ own grandparents alerted social services but were ignored

All I've heard of the family is that "great grand-mother and step great-grandfather" tried to alert the authorities and the guilty parties were able to dismiss their intervention as "malicious". I've no idea where the grandparents might have been. I anticipate their input would have been seen as closer to the child and perhaps taken more seriously.

[N7GTX]

Star Hobson was 16 months old when she was murdered by her mother's girlfriend. Her mother has been found guilty of causing or allowing the death of the child. Sentencing tomorrow at Bradford Crown Court.

There are similarities to the killing of Arthur Labinjo Hughes, 6 years old. https://news.sky.com/topic/arthur-labinjo-hughes-9...

Warning: The Star case makes for distressing reading.

https://news.sky.com/story/star-hobson-mother-and-...

[bitchstewie]

Is this kind of thing happening more often or is it just more widely reported?

What a fking mess poor kid

[boyse7en]

I'm on jury service in a couple of weeks' time and I'm dreading getting a case like this one.
It all seems such a horrific waste of a life.

[Gecko1978]

boyse7en said:

I'm on jury service in a couple of weeks' time and I'm dreading getting a case like this one.
It all seems such a horrific waste of a life.

If you are just listen to the facts as presented and do what you think is right nothing more or less, I have heard horror stories about juries not wanting to convict because of personal views or feeling guilty about wrecking someones life. Its not personal its just a task you might have to perform.

[mdw]

We have fostered for 8 years. Sitting in my front room as I type is a 19 year old who came to us at 14 when she and 7 siblings were finally after 12 years of social services intervention put into care. This year her mother had another baby and social services had to play a game for 6 months letting this woman pretend she wanted to be a mother until she finally gave up and the baby will go for adoption. Even her 19 yo daughter said her mother doesnt want the baby she just doesnt want to lose. BUT she has her rights so we all P*** about pretending she can have her "rights" attended to at OUR cost rather than someone being an adult and saying enough is enough. Mean time the poor baby has had a mucked up first 6 months not bonding properly as not sure who the mother figure is.

I have seen this over and over again and its really depressing. She is the 3rd member of a 6 plus child family we have looked after who have had ss intervension for more than 80 % of their lives before decisive action is taken. The family courts have a LOT to answer for.

[shoestring7]

While I'm sure 'Lesson's will be learnt', this looks like another case where PC hampered officials were hamstrung, in this case by the traveller and lesbian nature of the individuals.

They pretty much accused the extended family who tried to bring the poor child's abuse to their attention of racist homophobia. Of course, any intervention by the family endeavouring to take the child away for her own protection would have been met by serried ranks of police and social workers.

What a fecking mess.