Vigil at window prompted concerns

Neighbours said they had become concerned for Leticia's welfare

In the weeks before her death, four-year-old Leticia Wright kept a "vigil" at her bedroom window.

Those who saw her there described how she looked sad, but would smile and wave at them as they walked by.

Two neighbours were so concerned about Leticia's welfare they called social services, who visited the house. But the case was closed within days.

Leticia was then killed by her mother, Sharon Wright, and her boyfriend Peter McKenzie-Seaton following extensive abuse.

Kirklees Council defended its handling of the case on Friday, saying an independent review had concluded the little girl's death "could not have been foreseen".

They phoned me and said. . . there is no case . . . and a month later she died Diane Harrison

But the authority conceded that "certain aspects could have been handled differently".

Diane Harrison, of Almondbury Bank in Huddersfield, was one neighbour who contacted social services.

She told the BBC how she had voiced her concerns after seeing Leticia day after day standing at her bedroom window, staring out.

She said the couple "kept themselves to themselves", but added Leticia was rarely seen in shorts and T-shirts but wore long-sleeved tops and trousers which covered her skin.

'Something going on'

Ms Harrison said: "Every time I took my son to school I just thought there was something wrong.

"[She was] in her bedroom every day, in the morning, and she would still be in there when I go to pick my son up from school, waving at everybody, smiling.

"She was talking to me through the glass but I couldn't tell what she was saying.

In all cases of this nature issues arise about how certain aspects could have been handled differently Paul Johnson Kirklees Council

"It seemed to be every day, I just thought there was something going on."

She took the advice of her health visitor to call social services.

"They didn't come for a day, so I phoned them again the next day and I said 'there is something wrong you have to come' . . . so they came . . . and at the end of the next day they phoned me and said, 'sorry, Miss Harrison, but there is no case'.

"And a month later she died.

"I was shocked that they didn't do anything. After what happened I thought 'why hadn't they done anything?'"

'Not foreseen'

Paul Johnson, head of safeguarding for the council and a member of the Kirklees Safeguarding Children Board, said Leticia's death was "very sad and tragic".

He said: "In all cases of this nature issues arise about how certain aspects could have been handled differently."

Some issues in Leticia's case "fell into that category", he said.

However, he quoted from an independent report which was carried out into the council's handling of the case.

It said: "The tragic death of Leticia Wright in the most dreadful of circumstances could not have been foreseen by any of the people in the local authority who dealt with her and her mother Sharon Wright".