A FINAL probe into how a four-year-old boy was starved to death by his mother in Bradford has cleared police of any failings, leaving no professionals involved with his family facing sanction over the tragedy.
The Independent Police Complaints' Commission report, which exonerates West Yorkshire Police's role in the case of Hamzah Khan, means no blame has been directly levelled at anyone, except his mother Amanda Hutton, who is serving a 15-year jail sentence for his manslaughter at the family's house in Heaton.
The conclusion of the IPPC's investigation follows a Serious Case Review which also solely blamed Hutton saying Hamzah's death in December 2009, which was only discovered in September 2011, could not have been predicted.
Last night, however, Bradford West MP George Galloway said it was "unbelievable and unconscionable that apparently no-one except the parent is to blame here".
Although the Independent Police Complaints Commission report said West Yorkshire Police should have referred the case to allow it to start its own investigation earlier, it cleared all of its officers involved in the case of any wrongdoing.
Two officers who interviewed Hamzah's father Aftab Khan a year before he died were warned he was under nourished and at risk but did not alert social services and an officer who visited the family home in April 2009 - eight months before he died - reported that he appeared "fit and well".
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Mr Galloway told the Telegraph & Argus the officers who interviewed Mr Khan and did not pass the concerns he raised to social services would "no doubt have that on their conscience".
He added: "But had they done, would it have made any difference, given the previous reports which had been made?
"It is not the primary duty of police to be social workers and it s absolutely crystal clear that social services failed completely in this case.
"No-one, it appears, will take any responsibility for it."
Officers who interviewed Mr Khan were later offered "informal words of advice" by a Detective Chief Inspector over their failure to make a fresh referral to social services, but the IPCC says there was no requirement to do so as a separate referral had been made days before.
West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson is to raise the issue of IPCC referral timings and said: "I note the findings of the report and will be discussing them and the issue of IPCC referral timings with the Chief Constable.
“What we should all remember though, is at the very heart of this case is the heart-breaking death of a young boy whose mother has been convicted of his manslaughter because of gross negligence.”
West Yorkshire Assistant Chief Constable Russ Foster welcomed the IPPC findings.
‘‘We acknowledge the findings of the IPCC report following the tragic death of Hamzah Khan," he said.
‘‘More recently the IPCC has provided further guidance for making referrals, but at the time of this incident, having regard to the circumstances known and this statutory guidance in relation to IPCC referrals, we did not believe there was requirement to make a referral.
‘‘What is in no doubt is the actions of officers and in particular the tenacity and dedication of a PCSO in uncovering the terrible abuse Amanda Hutton put her children through and who is currently serving a 15-year jail sentence.
‘‘The level of professionalism by all officers involved in the investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of Hamzah Khan was found to be without fault or failure by the IPCC.’’
Bradford Council leader David Green said: "The Independent Police Complaints Commission's (IPCC) investigation was about West Yorkshire Police's involvement in issues relating to the tragic death of Hamzah Khan. We therefore can't comment beyond the joint lessons learned and partnership action taken after the serious case review, by all the agencies involved.
"The IPCC's investigation concluded that Hamzah's death was not something that West Yorkshire Police could have reasonably been expected to predict or prevent.
"The independent Serious Case Review into the death of Hamzah Khan also found: "Information known to the agencies at the time of the events that have been examined and analysed by the SCR panel does not suggest that Hamzah's death was a predictable event."
Meanwhile, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Bradford Council, suggested a new system of community involvement in such cases may help prevent alarm signals being overlooked in future.
She suggested that professionals dealing with difficult cases throughout their career might find their standards lowered by the experience of working with those from the more troubled elements of society.
"If I went into a house and found a child is four but looks a year old, that would not seem normal to me," she said.
"But if you operate in a world working with people who don't feed their children particularly well, then children are smaller. People become desensitised."
She suggested using councillors or others within the community to act as "a fresh pair of eyes" to identify unacceptable circumstances in challenging cases.
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