Daily Mail Kicks Social Services Again

The Daily Mail picked up on the case of four year old Daniel Pelka back in June: then, it was straight reporting, that the little boy had been starved to death by his parents. Earlier last month the paper was still reporting from the trial, that the child had been beaten by his parents, who denied murdering him. Then the parents were found guilty, and the Mail began the blame game.

Abuse? It's only f***ing social workers, c***

“Innocently running after the mother who would murder him: Haunting final image of boy, four, starved and beaten to death by parents as authorities looked the other way”. No-one should be surprised: after all, we’ve been here so many times before. It was all the fault of “police, social workers, teachers and NHS staff”. Yeah, see, the public sector is evil! They all looked the other way!

The obedient hackery of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre pauses to mention that “‘Callous and wretched’ Magdalena Luczak, 27, and stepfather Mariusz Krezolek, 34, imprisoned the little boy in a locked box room, force-fed him salt and held him underwater in a bath until he was unconscious”, but from that point, it’s open season on social workers, and anyone else in the vicinity at the time.

“Police, social services, school staff and NHS workers missed countless opportunities to intervene and yet not one professional has faced disciplinary action” readers are told. But this was a mere taster for today’s “'He takes with him the indelible stain of Daniel's cruel death': Head of failing children's services that failed to stop horrific torture of murdered schoolboy faces calls to 'stand down immediately'”.

This is accompanied by a large photo of the now under-fire head of Coventry social services, who as a result, whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, will find himself verbally and perhaps even physically abused in the street. Paul Dacre knows this. He doesn’t care: there’s no waiting on due process for the Vagina Monologue. Social workers get roughed up? Meh. Minor collateral damage.

In any case, the Mail knows all about the case: “Black eyes, a broken arm and reduced to a 'bag of bones' who scavenged from bins: The catalogue of missed chances to save Daniel Pelka”. Strangely, this catalogue was not assembled before his parents got guilty and the assault on the public sector was ordered from the Fuerherbunker deep within Northcliffe House.

Coventry social services may not be up to scratch. Other public servants may have missed opportunities. But that is not the point: the Daily Mail, as ever, wants to play both sides of the field, denouncing those who do act, and then denouncing those who do not. Meanwhile, the social care experience of Dacre and his minions remains at a figure not unadjacent to zero.

And why should they care, as long as it sells more papers? No change there, then.