Ananova :

The parameters of the independent inquiry into the death of Anna Climbie have been announced by the Government.

The eight-year-old was murdered in one of the most shocking cases of child abuse ever uncovered in the UK.

The public inquiry will investigate failings by social workers, police and NHS staff which led to the little girl's horrific death.

It is the first "tripartite" inquiry of its kind - with a legal base encompassing the Children Act, the NHS Act and the Police Act. Headed by Lord Laming, a former chief inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate, it will be held in public in London.

Anna died at the hands of her aunt and her aunt's boyfriend after months of neglect and abuse, although she had had regular contact with social services since arriving in London from her Ivory Coast home in 1999.

At the time of her death, in February last year, she had 128 separate injuries on her body.

A Home Office pathologist who conducted the post mortem examination said it was the most shocking case of abuse he had seen.

Marie Therese Kouao, 44, and her lover, Carl Manning, 28, from Tottenham, north London, were jailed for life in January this year for Anna's murder.

They had beaten the little girl with a bicycle chain, belt buckle and coathangers, and forced her to sleep naked in a bin bag in the unheated bathroom of their studio flat.

During the Old Bailey trial, it emerged that police, social workers and health staff had failed to act despite the fact that Anna had needed hospital treatment for her injuries.

Anna died two months after Haringey social services closed the file on her case. The inquiry has been ordered by Health Secretary Alan Milburn and Home Secretary Jack Straw.

The first hearings are expected to be announced shortly and the report will be published in spring next year. Anna was christened Victoria by her parents, who sent her to live with her aunt in the hope she would have a better life.

Story filed: 11:27 Friday 20th April 2001

• Inquiry into Anna death opens 11:21 Thursday 31st May 2001
• Child killers will be allowed to give evidence to inquiry 18:33 Thursday 10th May 2001
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