Childminders abuse dismissed

Jasmin Norry

127 Princess Avenue

Buckley

Flintshire

CH7 2LR

Dear Mark Tami

Below are our events and details of what has happened over the last 6-7 months. I haven’t named the childminder in question due to the case being closed at the moment however if anyone does need names in the future I would be happy to state them.

I have a 15 month old son Tommy Logan Norry who was born on 7/11/2013. When he was roughly 8 months old in September 2014 I decided I needed a childminder  to take care of him every other week for three evenings from 4:30-9pm whilst I worked. He was placed in nursery for when I worked days but unfortunately they closed at 6 so a childminder was my only other choice. I posted on a website called “Flintshire mummys” stating what I needed and had a few replies. One in particular stood out to me. I messaged her and arranged to meet at her home the following day. I arrived at her house sometime in the afternoon with my son Tommy, she welcomed us in and got some toys out for Tommy to play with. She then got a folder out for me to have a look at whilst we had a chat. In this folder there were numerous childcare certificates and crb checks for herself and her husband. We also went through food menus, allergies and safety procedures whilst Tommy played on the floor with her oldest child who was 2 at the time. After about 3 hours Tommy and myself left and told the childminder I would contact her with my decision. I spoke to my mum, sister and a few friends who all agreed this childminder would be perfect for what I needed. So I contacted her and told her I was happy for her to care for my child whilst I worked.

                 So on 16^th September 2014 I dropped Tommy off with her, he seemed happy enough but was obviously a bit upset about me leaving him. Everything was ok for the first few weeks of Tommy being in this childminders care. The only problem I had was she let me down a few times when she was supposed to be caring for him. Towards the end of September I noticed a change in Tommy’s behaviour. He was very clingy and was extremely upset to the point where he would hold his breath and scream hysterically when it came to dropping him off at the childminders. I cannot remember the exact dates of when Tommy came home with bruises, but there were 3 in total.

       The first occasion he was fine with me leaving him and seemed fine when I picked him up. The childminder didn’t report any accidents which she had done in the past. However when we woke the next morning Tommy had a big bruise on one cheek and one on the inside of his ear at the top. I was confused and kept checking them but didn’t really think anything of it as he was just learning to walk so I assumed he had either had a fall or a bit of rough play with the 2 year old. His bruises healed within a couple of days and the following week he went to nursery and returned with no bruising.

        The day we returned to the childminders address my son had been absolutely fine all day yet when I lifted him out of his car seat and he could visably see the childminder and her house he started screaming hysertically. He had never been so upset before when dropping him off. Infact I had never seen my son scream like that and it was quite frightening and worrying. However the childminder reassured me he would be fine after a few minutes as all babies get upset with the drop off. So off to work I went. When I picked Tommy up he was fast asleep in the cot and I had a nice chat with her about what Tommy had done during his stay there. I was happy with everything so paid and left. Bonus Tommy slept through the night for the first time in months! The following day I noticed a light bruise on his cheek and another one on the inside of his ear (the same bruise as last time he was there). Again I didn’t really think anything of it as he was still finding his feet.  When bathing him that evening I noticed a pinch mark on his arm and a very large light bruise to his lower back going onto his bum. I panicked as any new mum would and phoned my mum crying who advised I look for another childminder. Tommy was in nursery the following week so I decided to start looking for someone new to care for him and keep an eye on his bruising to see if he got anymore whilst he was in nursery. He didn’t, they faded and then eventually went altogether.

     The next time Tommy was in this childminders care was late October about a week before his 1^st birthday. She cared for Tommy on the Tuesday, let me down on the Wednesday due to banging her knee getting a blood clot on it and her blood pressure going extremely high! So Tommy went to his nanas which he loved and came home happy as anything.  The childminder text me during Thursday day and informed me that she would be able to care for Tommy that evening as she was a lot better, I asked her if she was sure she would be ok as I could get other childcare. She said she would be fine and would charge me if I didn’t take him. On that day myself and Tommy spent the day with family and left them at about 4pm to head to the childminders, we arrived at 4:15pm and again Tommy was hysterical when I dropped him off but yet again my worries where pushed aside by the childminder reassuring me that he would be fine in about 10 minutes. So off to work I went, I finished work at 9pm and headed straight to get Tommy. I arrived at the childminders for 9:15pm, Tommy was fast asleep as usual in the cot and the childminder filled me in on everything whilst I collected Tommy’s things and picked him up. I instantly noticed two red marks on my sons forehead and a large bruise forming on his left cheek. I was obviously furious as this had been happening every time he was in her care! I asked the childminder had Tommy had any accidents today as he has marks on his face. She looked over at her husband and asked him who said no he hadn’t had any accidents. I then asked her again as you could clearly see the bruise on his cheek and she strongly denied anything had happened. I was extremely suspicious and furious that he had yet another bruise but it was late so I put Tommy in the car seat ready to head home. I sent my mum and sister a quick text about what had happened. I then headed home put Tommy to bed and went to sleep myself.

         I woke the next morning to Tommy being his usual happy self laughing, giggling and talking in his cot. I went into his room and reached down to lift him out and to my horror his little face was covered in bruises. I lifted him out and cradled him whilst I checked his injuries. He had one big one on his left cheek with two little ones underneath it, two on his forehead, a scattering of about 6 on his right cheek and one on the inside of his ear again. I checked the rest of his body but couldn’t see anything else. Thank god! I text the childminder to ask again if he had had any accidents whilst in her care that night. She text me back straight away saying “Defo hasn’t here, he had red marks when he arrived” I know he hadn’t any marks on him at all so responded with “ Where were the red marks? It’s just worrying him waking up with bruising all over his face and inside his ear”, she then responded with 4 separate texts deneying  anything had happened and saying has he banged himself in his cot? Has he done it in nursery? (I have kept all these text messages between myself and the childminder). I stopped replying and text my mum shaking, she told me to take Tommy to the doctors as heads are funny things. So I rang them and made an emergency appointment for 10:45.

            I arrived at the doctors who looked at my sons face and asked if I had been pinching him! I told him everything about the childminder and he called another doctor into the room to examine my baby. They then both told me to take him straight to the hospital to get him checked there. I rang my mum in tears and told her everything, I asked her to meet me at Wrexham maelor hospital. We arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes later and was sent straight to the childrens ward. He was checked over by a nurse then we waited for a social worker to arrive. When she did we were then sent over to another building opposite the hospital where we were met by a doctor and two police officers. We went into a room where the doctor examined Tommy. After what felt like hours and a long talk about what had gone on the doctor confirmed that my sons injuries where non accidental and had been caused by an adult with force. My whole world fell apart, how could somebody do that to my baby? Knowing someone I trusted had harmed my innocent baby boy destroyed me.

                    The next thing I knew one of the police officers were taking pictures of Tommy’s injuries whilst my mum and the social worker tried to console me. Darren Dean one of the police officers explained what was to happen next, he said he needed to take a statement from me. I was in no state to do anything apart from cradle my boy. We went home and I took some time off work. I couldn’t bare to leave Tommy with anyone and was advised by Karen the social worker that he be with me at all times for the time being. Another officer came out to take a statement from me a few days later. It took a total of 3 hours. Over the following weeks I was expected to carry on as normal whilst they carried out their investigation. Statements were taken my nan, great auntie and my nans cousin. They had all seen Tommy minutes before I took him to the childminders. My mum also made a statement and so did two other mums whos children where cared for by this childminder (the mums had raised concerns themselves about her before this had happened). Tommy had to undergo a horrible blood test to check he didn’t have any underlying medical condition. All of his tests came back clear.

          A few weeks later I had to do another statement and then the childminder and her husband were taken in for questioning. They both had different stories, the childminder changed hers 4 times and the husband changed his twice. They claimed Tommy had the bruising when he arrived to her house which we all knew he didn’t. She then claimed he had banged himself at 4pm (he didn’t arrive to her address until 4:15pm) and that she had informed me about this and done an accident form. She hadn’t, I was shown this form which the childminder claimed she did at 7pm on the night in question (her husband said she did it at 9am the following morning after police had already paid her a visit) I had never seen the accident form and my signature had been poorly forged.  The childminder then went back to her original story claiming Tommy had these injuries before he arrived at her address. The investigating office Darren Dean knew they were both lying and was confident about the outcome.

     During the investigation there was a meeting  with CSSIW and social workers who agreed to have the childminders licence revoked.  I was also told she would never be able to mind a child again and that her own children were at risk. It was a relief but I still wanted to know what had happened to my boy. I wanted to know which one had done it and why?. I couldn’t sleep, had to act normal for the sake of my son. How could I ever trust anyone to care for my child again? The most precious thing in my life abused whilst I earned money to buy nice things for him.

     I was reassured time and time again I would get my answers . The investigating officer  went through everything bit by bit before he finally sent it off to the courts. I was told there were 11 statements to go through so it would take a while.  This was just before Christmas, I was expected just to carry on as normal and I tried my best for my boy even tho it was eating me up inside waiting for the outcome. By the middle of January I still hadn’t heard anything so I got in touch with Darren dean who said they were still looking at it. Eventually towards the end of February I got the phone call I was hoping for, or so I thought. Darren rang me at about 5:30pm on Wednesday 25^th February and informed me he had been chasing up the case all week. The CPS had decided not to take the case any further and no action would be taken. He explained how because my son is too young to tell us which one of them monsters  had harmed him there was insufficient evidence  so had to be dropped. He said he went back to them to try to charge with neglect but they just weren’t intrested. Darren said to put it coldly they are not intrested in you or Tommy all they are intrested in is wether or not they will get a conviction and because Tommy cant talk they don’t think they can get one so aren’t willing to spend the money trying.

     How is this justice? How can anyone allow this to happen to a baby because he cannot talk. So is it acceptable to abuse a child because of this?. We had enough evidence for our case to go to court! I have set up a petition about this and so far I have 568 signatures. I am doing everything I can to get the CPS to take another look at this case. Does a child seriously have to die before any action is taken? My son is my world, my everything , and knowing someone has abused him and not had any sort of punishment or acknowledgement absolutely sickens me.  All because he is too young to talk.

Thank you for reading what happened to my son. I hope you can do something, anything to help me get justice for my boy. He didn’t deserve any of this and neither do any other children who’s cases get overlooked.

Help me be his voice!

Yours truly

Jasmin Norry