Council employed social worker with conspiracy to murder conviction

Bath and North East Somerset Council has admitted it employed a social work manager who had a conviction for conspiracy to murder.

Disgraced Lynda Barnes worked as a social work team manager for more than three years, leading a group of nearly 20 staff involved in the care of vulnerable children across the Bath area.

An investigation is now under way into how she came to be employed by the authority in such a sensitive role after she was able to draw a veil over the details of her criminal past – which saw her asking her brother to hire a hitman to murder her ex-husband for £10,000.

The extent of her deception came to light when she suggested that one of her colleagues might lie under oath during a care proceedings court case in June last year.

The social worker raised the alarm and the council informed the judge overseeing the child protection case, His Honour Judge Paul Barclay, who decided that Mrs Barnes’s past needed investigating.

 The court proceedings also heard allegations in court from her staff saying they were frightened of Mrs Barnes, who they described as a controlling liar who “misrepresented facts or exaggerated isolated events into established patterns of behaviour” – claims which she denied.

Mrs Barnes was taken on by B&NES in 2005 despite the fact that she had been sacked by its predecessor, Avon County Council, ten years earlier following her conviction.

B&NES had been aware that she had been convicted of conspiracy to murder following an incident in June 1993 but her employment was approved by a senior manager who has now left the authority.

The council’s current director of children’s services, Ashley Ayre, who was not working for B&NES at the time, said no one with such a serious conviction should ever have been employed by the authority in such a role.

Judge Barclay found that at the time of her appointment, she had admitted her conviction but provided B&NES with a “highly sanitised version of events.”

His judgement said that she had given permission for her criminal file to be retrieved from the archives and inspected.

However that was never done by her bosses before they took her on and the judge added:  “Hence, her employer and, so far as can be discerned, the GSCC, simply relied on Mrs Barnes’ own account of her conviction, as well of course as her excellent references”.

He told the court: “My conclusions on Mrs Barnes’ conviction are that, on any objective view, her account to Bath and North East Somerset and the GSCC is likely to have been far from accurate, but that is not to say that it was deliberately designed to mislead.

“In giving full authority for her file to be retrieved, she could not have know that both of those bodies would separately fail to secure sight of it.  To my mind it is highly regrettable that they did not do so, but it was not her fault.”

Once her true past was revealed Mrs Barnes was immediately placed on gardening leave until the judge reported his findings.

However for four weeks she was redeployed in an administrative role, a decision Judge Barclay has called “astonishing”, although she was auditing training plans and never came into contact with the public or social workers.

Once he made an official finding of fact in December, Mrs Barnes was suspended but she resigned in March before a disciplinary hearing could take place.

During the proceedings Judge Barclay also uncovered a psychiatric and psychological pre-sentence report from her original case which questioned her mental state and said she had difficulty separating reality from fantasy.

Mrs Barnes was given a two-year suspended sentence for conspiracy to murder but persuaded B&NES that she had been the victim in a situation and should be taken on.

During her time with the local authority Mrs Barnes was significantly involved in 17 cases in which a total of 31 children were removed from the care of their parents.

B&NES has conducted an internal review into all the cases Ms Barnes was involved in, with the results now awaiting verification from a separate NSPCC inquiry.

Cllr Chris Watt, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “It was a mistake to employ Lynda Barnes and one that we regret.

“I asked for a review of cases where Lynda Barnes had a significant involvement and am satisfied that no children have been unfairly removed from their families.”

All the families involved have been contacted.

The council has also checked the criminal records and employment backgrounds of all the 125 social care staff on its books and found nothing untoward.

A council spokesman admitted that safety systems needed more rigorous enforcement and said it was determined to prevent mistakes like this happening again.

Regulatory body the General Social Care Council (GSCC) has been contacted to carry out a review of Mrs Barnes’ registration as a social worker.

A spokeswoman said the GSCC had applied to suspend Mrs Barnes on a temporary basis while it looked into the case, but added that a criminal conviction was not necessarily a reason for barring a social worker.

She said: “Any allegations of serious misconduct that calls into question a social worker’s suitability to remain registered will be investigated by us and action taken, which can include removing someone from the workforce completely.

“A criminal conviction is not in itself a bar to registering with the GSCC.

“We treat all cases individually and will consider various factors such as the length of time since the offence, evidence of rehabilitation and references from other social work professionals.”

The GSCC said Mrs Barnes’ registration application had been referred to an independent committee because of the nature of her past, but that ironically a favourable reference from B&NES Council had helped it make a decision.

B&NES has also admitted that errors were made in the management of the case which was in court when Mrs Barnes’ past came to light.