to, but that is it from us in birmingham for now. now time for the rest of the news. a woman who murdered the one year old boy she was trying to adopt lied about her alcohol use, mental health problems, and debt. a safeguarding review found there were systemic failings in the adoption process and information was not always shared between agencies. in her first interview, the little boy s mother says her son leiland james was wrongly taken away from her at birth and would still be alive if he had been left with her. this report from our special correspondent, ed thomas, contains some distressing details. mummy, please don t be sad. i miss you so much, too. i m safe. it s so beautiful up here. but i do worry when i see you cry. laura inhales sharply. the words of laura corkill, read at the funeral of her son, leiland james. .. and what do you remember about him? his smile, his cheeky laugh, his big, bright eyes.
this is bbc news. the headlines: a report into the murder of 13 month old leiland james corkill in cumbria calls for better communication between agencies. he was killed injanuary last year by a woman who had hoped to adopt him. we are all deeply saddened and sorry for leiland james corkill s death at the hands of laura castle, and i share the public s shock and anger. the nhs has announced it will shut the tavistock gender identity clinic for children from next spring after a review found it was failing vulnerable people under 18. british gas owner centrica defends a decision to resume payouts to shareholders, as uk households come under pressure from rising energy bills. excitement in birmingham as the opening ceremony for the commonwealth games takes place this evening. and stars are paying tribute
..murdered by the woman who promised to love and care for him. when he came home, it was in a wooden box. is this home? yeah. this is the first time laura corkill has told her story. how long have you been here for? six years. it starts with her son being removed by a social worker, taken at birth from his hospital cot. i was in bits. what was leiland james doing? crying. cumbria county council say they told laura they planned to remove leiland james. she denies this. years before, laura suffered severe domestic violence, abuse that she says social workers feared would happen again a so called risk of future emotional harm. she believes that is why her son was taken. what should have happened to leiland james? he d come home with support in place. absolutely. yeah, absolutely. aishea and rebecca support women
both: no. leiland james fate was already determined. cumbria county council had identified him for adoption. i was expecting him to come home. this was the last photo of mother and son together. was this during contact? that was my last contact. covid ended all face to face meetings. what do these moments mean to you? precious. she would never hold leiland james alive again. laura corkill says she repeatedly asked for leiland james to come back home. inside, she told me she passed several parenting assessments. and one social worker, she says, told her she could get the baby s room ready for when he came back here. cumbria county council say in april 2020, they told laura the plan was for leiland james to be adopted. and, injuly, the family courts agreed. they told us when a child is at risk
going on here, with rehearsals during the morning and the opening ceremony due to start at 8pm. that s it from us here in birmingham for now. for all the rest of the day s news, let s cross back to martine croxall in the studio. the events leading up to the murder of a 13 month old boy in cumbria are the subject of a safeguarding review to be published later today. leiland james corkill was killed injanuary last year by laura castle, a woman who had hoped to adopt him. in herfirst interview, leiland james mother, laura corkill, says her son was wrongly taken away from her at birth and would still be alive if he had been left with her. this report from our special correspondent, ed thomas, contains some distressing details. mummy, please don t be sad, i miss you so much, too. i m safe. it s so beautiful up here. but i do worry when i see you cry. the words of laura corkill read at the funeral of her son leiland james.