Professionals tasked with protecting vulnerable children have been condemned for a string of “failures” in the case of an autistic schoolboy who was killed in an arson attack at his Keighley home.

A report of a Serious Case Review reveals that there were serious lapses in child protection procedures in the care of 12-year-old Damian Clough who died at his home in Kinara Close, Stockbridge, on April 4, 2009.

Although the report points out that the failures were “unconnected” to Damian’s death, it highlights that senior management made a “serious omission” in allowing an unqualified worker to oversee his care.

It adds that some professionals involved in his case never saw Damian and that he was rarely seen at home.

It concludes that while agencies focused on the schoolboy and his needs, they should have looked more closely at how his health and disability affected his family.

Damian died after being overcome by poisonous fumes released by a slow-burning fire, when locked in the house alone.

He was found lying naked on a blanket in his bedroom by firefighters who broke into the house.

The tragedy immediately prompted Bradford Safeguarding Children Board to start a Serious Case Review in a bid to “learn lessons and improve services for children”.

The panel met five times between June and November 2009 and it decided to commission a multi-agency review of services for children with complex health needs and disabilities.

An executive summary of the panel’s findings – which refers to Damian as child D – was published yesterday.

It admits that, with hindsight, it was “inappropriate” that no professionals from the agencies involved considered his sister might not be coping.

It says: “There is no evidence at any point that any professionals thought about the family as a whole.

“This means there has been a wholesale failure of integrated working amongst professionals.

  • Read the full story in Tuesday’s T&A