From: ayaz.s.siddiqi@gmail.com   
      
   Child murder rates 'a national disgrace'   
      
   A leading children's charity today demanded urgent government action to cut   
   child abuse killings, denouncing the country's infant murder rates as "a   
   national disgrace".   
      
      
   The NSPCC launched a publicity campaign to raise awareness of the issue,   
   stressing that parents were convicted or suspected of child murder in nearly   
   80% of cases in England and Wales.   
      
      
   The campaign features a series a posters showing empty parts of a house with   
   street signs reading Bedroom, Stairs and Hallway.   
      
      
      
   The images are designed to show that more children die in the home than in the   
   street.   
      
      
   The campaign includes a poll showing more than 70 per cent of parents are now   
   more concerned for their children's safety after the deaths of Soham   
   schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.   
      
      
   The NSPCC said even though most child murders occurred in the home, 63 per   
   cent believed children were more likely to be killed by someone outside the   
   family.   
      
      
   The charity's director Mary Marsh said while the "vast majority" of children   
   were well looked after at home, hundreds had died through abuse.   
      
      
   "Over the last 30 years, hundreds of children have been beaten, starved,   
   burned, suffocated, poisoned, shaken, strangled or stabbed to death by their   
   parents.   
      
      
   "The level of child abuse killings in this country is a national disgrace,"   
   she said.   
      
   The charity wants to see better co-ordinated efforts between local health and   
   social workers - grouping together to form local Child Safeguarding Teams.   
      
      
   National Child Safeguarding Boards in England and Wales should be established   
   to oversee the work of agencies and more training and resources should be   
   given to make sure those working with children have "the skills, experience   
   and tools to do the job".   
      
      
   Ms Marsh said: "The Government must reform the child protection system to make   
   it fit for the 21st century. We need to ensure that no more children slip   
   through the net."   
      
      
   Last month, Leanne Labonte, 20, and Dennis Henry, 39, were jailed for killing   
   their two-year-old daughter Ainlee Walker who "lost the will to live" after   
   being starved and tortured.   
      
      
   Her body had 64 injuries, including at least 10 cigarette burns, scalded feet   
   and scratches when she was found at the family's squalid home in Plaistow,   
   east London.   
      
      
   She was never put on a local "at risk" register although local agencies had   
   concerns about her from birth.   
      
      
   After the couple's Old Bailey trial closed, social services launched an   
   inquiry into Ainlee's care.   
      
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