'People in a small village don't want to get involved'

Lauren Wright case: Neighbours

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When Lauren Wright's emaciated body was carried from her house, many people in Welney finally realised that they each held a piece of a puzzle which formed a horrendous picture – that of a child being killed in their midst.

Adrian Rust's "piece of the puzzle" dates back to a year before Lauren died. He heard Tracey Wright screaming at her stepdaughter in the street and looked out of the window to see her punch the child with incredible force in the head.

Lauren, then aged five, was knocked to the ground. Her stepmother walked off with her own children.

A few moments later, Mr Rust saw the little girl, silent tears streaming down her face, pick herself up and carry on walking behind the family.

"I felt sick to my stomach," he recalled. "I didn't believe what I saw. I wish I had reported it. You hold a little bit of guilt. It is something you carry about with you."

But Mr Rust is not alone. Others in the Norfolk village witnessed Lauren either being abused, neglected or treated with cruelty, or noticed the bruises and the marked deterioration in her health.

For Lauren Wright did not die in an anonymous metropolis but in a small, pleasant village, complete with old church and an ivy-covered public house. One villager said: "People don't want to get involved in a small community, they know everyone else too well so they just brush things under the carpet."

Deborah Hancock, a neighbour of the Wrights, said: "Lauren was lovely – she was just crying out for help but she was lost and sad and scared and nobody helped her."

The apathy which took over most of Welney in the face of Lauren's abuse is sadly familiar to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

While the charity believes most people are very aware of the signs of cruelty, few relate it to their own lives or are willing to take action. Mary Marsh, director of the NSPCC, said: The public response to [Lauren's] private torment was woefully inadequate."

She said the NSPCC realised that people find it hard to know what to do, or where to turn for advice when they are worried about a child.

"Fear of making a mistake, of interfering, or about the repercussions can paralyse the natural instinct to do something," Ms Marsh said.

"But we strongly urge people never to wait until they are 100 per cent certain about their suspicions before they do act. A child may be at risk."

In the words of Mr Rust: "So many people knew a little and nobody put it all together."