Review into death of Leiland-James Corkill published

Cumbria County Council commissioned a safeguarding review following the death of the one-year-old who was killed by prospective adoptive mum Laura Castle.

Castle was jailed for at least 18 years after she shook the child to death at her home in Barrow.

The report, published by Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership, finds that Castle and her husband Scott Castle 'deliberately misled' professionals involved with their family.

It says services should not rely on self-reported information and that 'rigorous' checking and challenging of information given is 'vitally important' to avoid a similar occurrence in the future.

The county council says it has made changes to its adoption checks following the case.

According to the report, there were no concerns raised about the Castles during the adoption process.

Social workers initially said the adopters presented as a 'united couple' with a 'strong and solid relationship'. This was said to have been confirmed by friends and family members in references.

According to the review, Laura Castle did not disclose that she had experienced mental issues in the past when asked in an initial meeting as part of the adoption process.

At further visits after Leiland-James, from Whitehaven, had been placed in the Castles' home,  Laura Castle told a social worker she was 'struggling'. 

The social worker told the review that she had no concerns for Leiland-James’s care on the day but did recognise that support was going to be required. The social worker was 'reassured that the carer remained child focused despite her concerns', the report said.

Later in December 2020, the Castles attended an online meeting.

After the session the social worker and the therapeutic worker agreed that the Castles appeared to be 'negative' about Leiland-James and found it hard to show any joy about parenting him during the meeting. 

The couple were described as tense and ‘flat’. It was concluded that work was required, and they should join a therapeutic group starting in February.

The social worker spent time with the family that day and recorded afterwards that while there were issues, but there were also 'positive' interactions observed and indicators that Leiland-James appeared more settled.

Leiland-James with mum Laura

The review was told that following the meeting it was considered that support was needed.

The report said there were concerns at Laura Castle saying during the meeting that she wanted a break and required ‘respite’ from Leiland-James.

That was said to be in response to her being challenged on Leiland-James staying overnight with family against advice.

It was agreed that Leiland-James’s social worker needed to be made aware of this concern. Emails were sent and it agreed there needed to be a care planning meeting.

No meeting was held prior to his death.

Lesley Walker, the independent scrutineer with Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership, said: “The agencies and professionals involved in this case are deeply saddened and sorry for Leiland-James’ death and have openly reflected on how systems and practice can be strengthened to prevent the abuse or neglect of any other child in similar circumstances.

“The local and national recommendations in the report spell out specific actions that need to be taken to improve systems and practice in Cumbria and beyond.

"The National Safeguarding Practice Review Panel have agreed to support the discussions to improve national adoption guidance and systems.

“Agencies locally have already taken action to address the learning and recommendations outlined in the report but now that the report has been published the learning can be widely shared and discussed in detail.

"In particular, there are messages for staff in all organisations both locally and nationally, about the need to both share and seek information that may impact on the safety of a child and to be really curious and prepared to challenge in all areas of day to day working with children and families, remembering that safeguarding must remain a core focus in all work.”