Killer dad's history of domestic violence was known to police (Birmingham, England, United Kingdom)

Basically an account on how the authorities let alcoholic, unemployed abuser dad BALJINDER SINGH MEHAT kill his 21-month-old daughter. The mother had contacted the police for help at least six times.

http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2009/07/19/killer-west-bromwich-dad-s-domestic-violence-was-known-to-police-inquiry-97319-24188728/

Killer West Bromwich dad's domestic violence was known to police - inquiry
Jul 19 2009

A FATHER who murdered his toddler daughter had a police record of domestic violence dating back years, an official inquiry has revealed.

West Midlands Police were called to deal with six violent attacks by Baljinder Singh Mehat on his wife in the three years before he killed their 21-month-old daughter Dilpreet.

But they failed to alert social services immediately and, when they eventually did, social workers bungled procedures and closed the case.

Shortly afterwards Mehat, 44 and from West Bromwich, beat Dilpreet to death in a drunken rage.

Now a review by Sandwell Safeguarding Children Board has been published, cataloguing a series of errors by West Midlands Police and social workers from Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.

The investigation was conducted three years ago, but has only recently been posted on the watchdog’s website.

It reveals for the first time how West Midlands Police had been called to six separate domestic violence incidents involving Mehat.

The damning review says: “The couple’s marriage was characterised by heavy drinking and violence on the part of the father towards his wife. The mother made the police and the GP directly aware of the background of domestic abuse.

“Neither the police nor the GP referred the matters to social inclusion and health as a result of the domestic abuse, even though there was at least one child in the household when the incidents occurred.”

When police did make a referral to social services in 2003, it was not as a result of the domestic abuse but following concerns raised by a neighbour that Dilpreet had not been seen for some time. She was then aged just one.

But even after social workers were made aware by police of the domestic abuse, they “did not seek any specific information to clarify this”, the report says. They closed the case in 2003.

Shortly afterwards, Mehat inflicted more than 30 injuries on the defenceless toddler in the lounge of the family home on Wolseley Road.

The unemployed dad’s wife Rashpal had left her husband to care for their children on Christmas Eve 2003 while she went to work at a local laundry. She returned home to a scene of carnage.
Forensic scientists found bloodstains on every piece of furniture in the room after the attack.

Dilpreet’s brother, aged four and a half at the time, later told police his father had punched and stood on his sister’s face and stomach.

Mehat, who was drunk on whisky at the time, told Rashpal he had beaten the child because she annoyed him. The tragic youngster was pronounced dead at Sandwell General Hospital less than an hour after the assault.

Since Dilpreet’s death, West Midlands Police’s Domestic Abuse Policy and Procedure and SOADA (Sandwell Organisation Against Domestic Abuse) have both been established.

The review concludes: “Both provide a clear framework within which to identify risk in families where domestic abuse occurs.

“However, having regard to the tragedy that occurred in this and many other cases, the importance of reporting, offering support to the victim and assessing risk from domestic abuse at an early stage cannot be emphasised enough.”

West Midlands Police spokesman Mark Payne said: “We recognised at the time that changes needed to be made to the systems and procedures in place in relation to dealing with domestic violence situations.

“We have made those changes and as a result we have been able to reduce the risk of domestic violence cases. The whole purpose of serious case reviews is to highlight to agencies when they have problems and issues to allow us to resolve them.”