Inquiry after child's pub death

The couple left three-year-old Tiffany in a filthy room

An inquiry has been launched by council officials into the circumstances surrounding the death of a three-year-old who was left to starve.

Tiffany Wright was neglected and left in what prosecutors called "filth and squalor" by her mother and stepfather in the Sheffield pub they ran.

Sabrina Hirst, 22, was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter. Robert Hirst, 44, got five years for child cruelty.

A serious case review is being carried out by the city's children's board.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Tiffany's decomposing body was found in an insect-infested room in the Scarbrough Arms pub in Upperthorpe, Sheffield, in September last year.

Abject squalor

A pathologist said the child had been dead for between two or three days.

Post-mortem tests showed she had not eaten or drunk anything for at least 20 hours.

The youngster, had died as a result of bronchial pneumonia which was a direct result of malnutrition, the court was told.

CCTV footage found at the pub showed Sabrina Hirst working in the bar as normal days before her daughter died.

Sabrina Hirst's barrister told the judge, Alan Goldsack, that even by his client's version of events the sick child had been last checked at 0700 GMT on Friday 7 September - she was discovered dead in the early hours of the following Sunday.

The court heard the family lived above the pub and Tiffany was raised in "abject squalor and degradation".

In a statement, Alan Jones of the Safeguarding Children Board said: "We are deeply saddened by the death of this child and that she did not benefit from the support services available to Sheffield children.

'Shocking' details

"The details of the court case and the severity of the sentences on the parents indicate that this case of neglect is exceptional and particularly shocking.

"We always try to take effective action when a child is thought to be at risk and the organisations in Sheffield work together to make sure that children remain safe in our city.

"It is particularly difficult for staff to do this when the harm by parents is deliberate and they are evasive, untruthful and manipulative."

He said family friends and neighbours were sometimes more aware of the risks to a child than the authorities.

And he urged people concerned about a child's welfare or safety to contact the authority.

"There are lots of services to help parents who are struggling to cope with parenting, so we call on parents and carers to contact us if they need help.

"We have already announced that we are carrying out a serious case review, which is looking at the circumstances surrounding this death and identify lessons that we should learn and this will be published in due course."