Four young children who died in a house fire after their parents fell asleep while smoking in bed were so badly neglected they only communicated by grunting and suffered dozens of accidental injuries, a report has found.
Social services were said to have fallen short in protecting Riley Holt, eight, and siblings Keegan, Tilly and Olly Unitt, aged six, four and three, who all died when a blaze broke out at their family home in Stafford, Staffordshire, in February last year.
Their youngest brother, aged just two at the time, survived the tragedy.
A serious case review into the way agencies worked with the family said that while the children lived in utter chaos , professionals just believed the mother s word and didn t question the evidence in front of them.
Four children who died in house fire were badly neglected, review finds
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Four children suffered months of neglect before dying in house fire
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Review finds four children killed in house fire suffered months of significant neglect
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