MP horror over murder case child

Andre Genestin hid his wife's body in a car roof box in their garden

A Brighton MP has expressed horror at the way social services handled reports of a distressed child whose mother was later found to have been murdered.

Des Turner spoke out after BBC South East revealed Brighton and Hove City Council was carrying out a serious case review of the incident.

The body of Catherine Genestin was found five weeks after she was murdered by her husband Andre in May 2007.

The council will not comment before the review's fundings are published.

Genestin, 48, of Maresfield Road, Brighton was convicted of murder at Lewes Crown Court in May and given a life sentence.

The court heard he used a mallet to crush the skull of 38-year-old Mrs Genestin.

The body was hidden in a cupboard then moved to a locked car roof box in their garden.

Several calls

During the trial, a teacher said she asked social services to visit the house after the couple's eight-year-old daughter said she was worried about her mother.

BBC South East obtained a copy of a report which revealed the teacher made several calls to social services asking them to intervene.

Initially, a trainee at the social services department phoned Genestin, who assured them there was not a problem.

The body was not found until the teacher persuaded a social worker to visit the house in June.

Mr Turner, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, said he felt "great sadness and quite a degree of horror".

Des Turner spoke out after BBC South East revealed details of the case

"It is such a tragic case, and it is going to have a very lasting imprint on the little girl's life," he said.

"They have a difficult job in child protection but I have often been concerned that they are inconsistent in the way in which they treat information."

He said social services sometimes acted on malicious reports from neighbours which turned out to be groundless.

"Then to ignore very serious concerns from teaching professionals, who will not raise issues like this lightly, is extremely worrying."

The local authority has confirmed it is carrying out the review into its handling of the case and that a summary of its findings and recommendations will be made public.

Di Smith, Brighton and Hove City Council's director of children's services, said: "It is not appropriate at this stage therefore to share the findings of the review before the due process of reporting has been made."