Ananova :

The father of Victoria Climbie has broken down in tears after seeing a harrowing picture of her injuries.

Francis Climbie began sobbing when he saw the photograph of his eight-year-old daughter with a tooth missing and bruising on her face.

Speaking through an interpreter, he told the public inquiry into her death the picture was very horrible.

He added: "She was not looking like this when she came over to England. She had all her teeth and she was pretty. She was a pretty girl. I feel how much my daughter was hurt."

At that point the hearing was adjourned for a short break so that Mr Climbie could try to compose himself.

Earlier he had spoken of how excited Victoria and the family had been when she was given the chance by her great-aunt Marie Therese Kouao in October 1998 to travel to Europe for the chance of a better education.

He said that Kouao had arranged a place for Victoria at a "fantastic school" in France and Victoria was "very happy" to be going. Victoria went with Kouao to France before arriving in England in the spring 1999.

She 128 separate injuries on her body when she died in Tottenham, north London, in February 2000.

She had been starved, beaten with coat hangers, bicycle chains, bound naked and kept prisoner in a freezing bathroom. She was forced to eat like a dog and had her face rammed into her plate.

In January this year Kouao, 44, and her boyfriend Carl Manning, 28, who called the girl Anna, were jailed for life for murder.

Story filed: 11:51 Friday 28th September 2001

Victoria (Anna) Climbie

	Need the latest breaking UK headlines, direct from Ananova, on your website? Contact our syndication team