Officer in Climbie case 'was scared of scabies'

A police constable responsible for checking that the home of the child abuse victim Victoria Climbie was fit to live in refused to go enter the house for fear of catching scabies, an inquiry into the girl's death was told on Monday.

PC Karen Jones was asked to inspect the eight-year-old's home before she was discharged from the hospital to which she been admitted with scalding wounds on her head. She told the inquiry into Victoria's death: "I was thinking if she has scabies it would be in the home too. It might not be logical but I did not know anything about scabies."

Instead she invited Victoria's great aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, to a social services office two days before Victoria was due to return home. She found no grounds for seeking police protection and allowed Victoria to be discharged.

The girl died six months later. In January Kouao and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, were convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The inquiry continues.