Concerns Raised Over Child Abuse Couple

Concerns were raised about a couple more than a year before their arrest for sexually abusing a child and filming it, an official report said. Christopher Oxtoby, 27, from Northampton, had admitted to a social worker that he had downloaded child pornography.

But police found no evidence and no child protection investigation started. Almost two years later, after the FBI uncovered the abuse footage, Oxtoby and partner Katie Scott, 26, were jailed.

They had pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child.

In a report on Wednesday, Northamptonshire Local Safeguarding Children Board said three basic changes needed to be made to its approach to protecting children.

The admission followed a serious case review of Oxtoby and Scott's case. Chris Few, chairman of the board, said: "The board and its constituent agencies are absolutely committed to learning from this tragic case and if one clear message emerges it must be - always put the child first."

He said child protection procedures had not been followed in the case, which involved three children. And he said the couple, from Ashbrow Road, Briar Hill, had been known to a "number of agencies".

The review found that Oxtoby had admitted to the social worker that he and Scott had downloaded and saved a DVD of pornographic images of children in the summer of 2006.

But Supt George Shipman, from Northamptonshire Police, said no evidence of the pornography had been found on two computers Oxtoby had access to.

More than a year later, in November 2007, Oxtoby and Scott were arrested after an FBI investigation in the US uncovered the film of the abuse.

Supt Shipman said lessons had been learned and officers were being encouraged to think more widely about protecting children.

"In this case, for example, an officer had some years ago logged concerns about the state of the property in which Oxtoby and Scott lived.

"But, as this was not a criminal matter, no further action was taken to alert other agencies that they that they should perhaps look more closely at the circumstances," he said.

In May this year, Northampton Crown Court heard that Scott had abused the baby and allowed Oxtoby to video it then download it onto his computer.

Scott was given a four-and-a-half-year prison term and Oxtoby was jailed for an indeterminate period.

Paul Burnett, Northamptonshire County Council's corporate director for children and young people's services, said: "This was a deeply disturbing and upsetting case.

"It is vital that all agencies and organisations involved use these findings to make very real changes to our ways of working."

BBC News