Killer’s life of neglect exposed by care report

Casey Kearney did not know her attacker. By chance she had missed her bus stop and just happened to be walking through the same park as Bonser to get back to where she needed to be last Valentine’s Day when she was brutally stabbed.

In July, the jury which convicted Bonser heard how she was known to mental health services and had been caught in the street with a knife a few weeks before the killing.

It also heard how hours before the murder she had visited a town centre shop and picked out two large kitchen knives, including one that was used in the attack on Casey, and how she had in the preceding weeks pleaded for help from medics, warning she was a “danger” to others.

Bonser’s life sentence was universally welcomed, but yesterday, a shocking report brought to light the failings in mental health and social care which experts said had already condemned her.

Professor Pat Cantrill was brought in by NHS Doncaster to compile the “serious incident review” just a few days after Casey’s death, but it took until yesterday for it to be published.

Her report traces Bonser’s life from the age of just eight and paints a pathetic picture of a child who was consistently neglected by her parents, bullied and left to fend for herself.

And by the time Bonser admitted Casey’s murder to mental health workers, she had lost her trust in the public services which had repeatedly failed her.

The report tells how Bonser was 10 before she was ever sent to school, following her mother’s death, and teachers immediately raised concerns.

Prof Cantrill said evidence shows she “should have been removed” from the family home, where her father neglected her and her brother, but no action was taken.

Many council records relating to Bonser’s care are missing, the report said, but those that were found show the home was in a “disgusting state”.

In August 1995 a social worker visited the house and found “some of the rooms are full of dead cats and excreta”. Yet nothing was done.

A catalogue of further failings to intervene in Bonser’s life are revealed, and by the age of 16 she had left home, was homeless and living in a hostel.

Yesterday Doncaster Council’s head of children’s services Chris Pratt said: “This case shows that neglect is as serious as other forms of abuse.

“It is unlikely this would ever be allowed to happen in 2012 because there is much more awareness of the problem, but we are not just consigning this to history.

“I think the recommendations in this report are still relevant, given that we have still got a lot to do to improve services here in Doncaster.”

Prof Cantrill’s report also criticised Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust (RDASH), which was caring for Bonser’s mental health.

By the time she committed the murder, Bonser was living in a flat in Doncaster town centre, where she said she had heard demons and professed to be terrified. She even fled to London to take refuge in a Pagan bookshop, and RDASH chief executive Christine Bain said the trust accepted it had to make improvements.

But, its medical director Dr Nav Ahluwalia, said that at the time, his staff had followed “national guidance” which recommends “community based treatment”.

Both Mr Pratt and Ms Bain said despite Doncaster’s terrible reputation, its residents should not be concerned because there was a determination to drive Prof Cantrill’s recommendations through.

Mr Pratt added: “This is a shocking case and there is no getting away from that. We are still not where we want to be with child protection, but this report will help us make improvements.”

Don Valley MP Caroline Flint said: “The responsibility is now on the various agencies to show they have fully understood what more could have been and should be done for children and young people like Hannah to help prevent future tragedies.”