Husband of mother who killed disabled children questions case review

The husband of Tania Clarence, who smothered her three disabled children, has questioned a review of the case, saying it highlighted “only some of the conflicts and complexities my wife and I have faced over the last three years in trying to deal with over 80 different medical professionals and social workers”.

Mrs Clarence was handed a hospital order after admitting the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of Olivia, four, and three-year-old twins Ben and Max at her home in New Malden, south west London, last year.

The children suffered from the muscle-weakening condition Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2.

A 70-page review of the case concluded the tragedy could not have been predicted but found that health and social services staff should have intervened earlier rather than waiting for a consensus to emerge on how to handle concerns about the mother’s behaviour.

The review, commissioned by the Kingston Local Safeguarding Children Board (KLSC), also said the South African family’s “affluent, middle-class status” may have contributed to a “different safeguarding response”.

Co-author Edina Carmi said child protection processes should have started in July 2013 with a senior manager allocated “to make sure all assessments were able to be done thoroughly”.

But she said: “The wrong decision was to wait for there to be a consensus and agreement … it wasn’t a case of any one individual or one professional’s fault.”

The review made 14 recommendations including that parents be offered support and information when a child is diagnosed with serious conditions.

But the children’s father, investment banker Gary Clarence, suggested the review did not go far enough.

In a statement, he said: “The tragedy that we have lived through has had a profound effect on my family and no report or inquiry will ever be able to bring Livy, Ben or Max back.”

He added: “Tania’s depression was certainly not helped by the constant pressure placed on the family by some aspects of the medical profession and social services who could not agree with our stance of prioritising quality of life for our children over medical operations and interventions that we felt were not always appropriate in the circumstances, or in our children’s best interests.

“Today’s independent report highlights only some of the conflicts and complexities my wife and I have faced over the last three years in trying to deal with over 80 different medical professionals and social workers involved at different times in making decisions about what was in the best interests of our children, and us trying to balance their medical needs with our desire to provide them with as loving and as normal a life as possible.

“I will not give any further comments on the report itself or discuss the emphasis of the recommendations with which I disagree.

“I will also not give comment on the specific incidents raised or answer questions about some of the specific observations it makes.

“The report, if read with our submissions at the time of the trial, is comprehensive but they need to be read in their entirety.

“We are hopeful, as we have said, that lessons can be learned from the tragedy and we hope that social services and the medical community are able to absorb the findings to prevent any other family having to endure what we faced.”

In July 2011, Mrs Clarence requested the children be designated Do Not Resuscitate if the need for ongoing treatment arose and expressed the family’s view that “medically invasive treatment was cruel”.

She declined offers of counselling despite concern from GPs.

In February 2013, professionals began referring to “neglect and emotional abuse” with regard to Olivia.

Those concerns escalated and Mrs Clarence’s “non-compliance and interference with medical equipment” was noted when Olivia was admitted to hospital between May and June 2013.

The review said: “The concerns during this period, in the view of the authors, reached the threshold for child protection intervention, but this did not happen, despite references to legal intervention.”

Mrs Clarence was sentenced to a hospital order at the Old Bailey in November last year.

Within months, she was allowed to return to the home where she smothered her children on day release.

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2015, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Jamie McKinnell. Chair of the Kingston Safeguarding Children Board Deborah Lightfoot (centre) is flanked by co-authors of the report Edina Carmi (left) and Nikki Walker-Hall.