Boy, 13, who killed carer ‘was failed by system’

Failings in the care of a teenager who killed his foster carer have been revealed by a review of the circumstances surrounding the case.
Dawn McKenzie, 34, was repeatedly stabbed by the then 13-year-old boy at a house in South Lanarkshire.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with murder, although his guilty plea to culpable homicide was accepted and he was sentenced to seven years’ detention.

A significant case review commissioned by Glasgow child protection committee (CPC) found that Ms McKenzie’s death in June 2011 could not have been foreseen or prevented.

But the nine-member review team also concluded that shortages in staffing and resources affected the care of the boy, referred to as D in the report.

There was evidence that a council social worker did not visit the boy until he had been in his final placement at Ms McKenzie’s Hamilton home for two months, the report said.

It said: “Inadequate staffing, inexperienced staff, shortage of resources and disruption to supervisory and management structures all had an impact.

“This is a strategic and political issue because providing social work services adequate to meet the needs of vulnerable children requires sufficient resource to be allocated, which needs to be argued for even more strongly at times of budgetary constraint.”

A “somewhat more cautious” interpretation of the teenager’s progress might have been helpful but his “extreme violence” towards Ms McKenzie was unforeseeable, the report said.

“The significant case review panel found no evidence to suggest that the tragic circumstances which led to the death of D’s foster carer could have been anticipated or prevented,” it said.

“There was no evidence whatsoever of aggression towards adults since he had been accommodated three years previously. There was no evidence to suggest that what happened could have been prevented by health practitioners taking any other course of action or risk-assessing in any other way.”

A fatal accident inquiry is to be held into Ms McKenzie’s death.

Donald Urquhart, independent chair of the Glasgow CPC, said: “The death of Dawn McKenzie was a terrible tragedy and the members of the child protection committee and I wish to extend our deepest sympathy to her family.

“As would be expected in such circumstances, the CPC commissioned a review of this case and that concluded that what occurred, whilst undoubtedly tragic, was in no way foreseeable. As far as the committee understands, there have been no obvious cases like this elsewhere.”

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “As was previously said in court and has been established through the significant case review, there was nothing remarkable in the boy’s behaviour in the lead-up to this attack. However, we accept the report in its entirety and also all of its recommendations.”