Social work department cleared over children’s stabbings

A COUNCIL has cleared its social work department of blame over its role in a case where three children were stabbed to death by their mother.

Edinburgh City Council concluded that “nothing more could have been done” to prevent American Theresa Riggi killing her eight-year-old twins Austin and Luke and their sister Cecilia, five, at a rented townhouse in the capital.

However, Claude Knights, director of child protection charity Kidscape, said questions still remained over the children’s deaths.

Riggi, who was embroiled in a messy divorce battle, then threw herself off a balcony at the property after attempting to cause a gas explosion.

The council examined its handling of the case because Riggi, 47, was at the centre of a custody battle with her oil worker husband, Pasquale, at the time of the tragedy on August 4 last year

The couple, both originally from the US, moved to Aberdeenshire as Mr Riggi was working in Scotland, but were living apart and had begun divorce proceedings by the time of the killings.

Police launched a search for Riggi after she fled her home in Skene with the children. She was eventually traced to a rented property in Edinburgh’s Slateford Road.

When she failed to appear in court for a divorce hearing on August 3, Mr Riggi’s lawyer told judge Lady Clarke there was “a real emergency in this matter” and an order was issued for social workers to supervise the children.

However, it took 24 hours for the faxed ruling to reach social workers in the city council’s children and families department. They received it at 3.05pm on August 4 – five minutes after Riggi had thrown herself from the flat’s balcony.

Yesterday, the council said it was satisfied nothing more could have been done at the time to prevent the children’s deaths.

Children and families leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren, who had called for the investigation, said: “Senior social work staff at the council have looked closely at all the systems we use to share information between agencies.

“I’m fully satisfied that nothing more could have been done at the time of this tragedy to prevent it from happening.”

Mrs Knights said the temptation to blame their deaths on a delayed fax would be wrong. She said: “This is a most tragic case about which much could be said with the benefit of hindsight.

“It does not seem fair to state that the deaths of these children could have been prevented had the fax been sent earlier, however tempting it might be to do so.”

She added: “It’s the words ‘nothing more could have been done’ that worries me.

“Can we really accept that? These children were deemed to be at risk. Some big questions need to be asked and answered. It’s our duty as people, let alone professionals, to stand up and ask these questions.

“These children won’t be coming back and it would be a tragedy if lessons can’t be learned from what happened to them.”

Riggi, who was originally charged with murder, admitted a reduced charge of culpable homicide due to diminished responsibility at the High Court in Edinburgh last month.

The mother-of-three denied a further charge of causing a gas explosion at the flat, which was accepted by the Crown.

Psychiatric reports submitted to the court found that Riggi suffers from three types of personality disorder – narcissistic, paranoid and hysterical. She stabbed each of her children eight times during the attack.

Lord Bracadale deferred sentence until April 26 at the High Court in Glasgow for psychiatric reports and a risk assessment.