Death of two-year-old girl in garden bin linked to ‘hostile environment’ policy

Matthew Turner represented the mother of Mazeedat Adeoye, a two-year-old girl who drowned in a garden bin, in what is thought to be the first case where the death of a child has been linked to the previous government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy. 

Mazeedat’s mother, Bailiks Adoye, was unable to look after Mazeedat whilst she went into Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) to be with her newborn baby who was undergoing heart surgery. Balikis had repeatedly asked Newham Council for support, including on the last business day before admission to GOSH for her baby's surgery, but this was refused. Balikis was a single parent, without any friends or family to rely on for support, but was told by social workers to ‘go and find someone’. 

Being left with no other choice, and as a matter of last resort, she entrusted Mazeedat into the care of an acquaintance from the Mosque. Whilst playing alone and inadequately supervised in the garden, Mazeedat fell head first into a bin that contained water.

The Senior Coroner for East London, Mr Graeme Irvine, found that Balikis made “significant efforts […] to secure state assistance for childcare” but the local authority child services “failed to support Mazeedat’s family and put in place appropriate support for [her] care at this time”.  This was despite her being a ‘child in need’ under section 17 of the Children’s Act 1989. 

Instead, he found that the Council’s No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) team was “deliberately hostile to the needs of a vulnerable family” and “dehumanised” Balikis.

He concluded that Mazeedat’s death was caused by neglect by the Council, as well as those caring for her on the day in question: 

The combined failures of the local authority and those caring for Mazeedat on 29th January 2022 taken cumulatively, constitute a gross failure. Those aggregated failures, on the balance of probability more than minimally contributed to Mazeedat's death.

There was a missed opportunity to provide effective care in the form of an offer of a temporary fostering placement which would have probably resulted in the avoidance of Mazeedat's death.

The Senior Coroner confirmed that he will be issuing a Regulation 28 ‘Report to Prevent Future Deaths’ to Newham Council, as well as the National Police Air Service (NPAS) due to concerns arising from the police helicopter search. 

He will also consider referring two of the social workers from the NRPF team – as well as the Head of Service at Newham Council – to Social Work England.

The inquest was headline news on The Guardian – see here.

The Irwin Mitchell news story can be found here.

Matthew Turner was instructed by Juliet Spender and Hannah Bascal of Irwin Mitchell.