Child Protection Files

Episode Description

In the eight months before sixteen-month-old Star Hobson died in Bradford, West Yorkshire, at least five different people who loved her (a family friend, her grandmother, her great-grandfather, her father, her grandfather) independently contacted social services or the police to say she was in danger. Every referral was investigated. Every case was closed.

On the 22nd of September, 2020, Star died in hospital from an abdominal injury a judge would later compare, in terms of force, to a road traffic accident. Her mother's partner, Savannah Brockhill, was convicted of murder. Her mother, Frankie Smith, was convicted of causing or allowing her death.

This episode reconstructs Star's case in full: who Savannah Brockhill and Frankie Smith were, the pattern of referrals ...