Leiland-James Corkill

This week Laura Castle was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of Leiland-James Corkill, a one-year-old boy who had been placed with her and her husband in a pre-adoption placement by Cumbria Council council.

The council's executive director John Readman provided a public statement on behalf of the council last week, including an apology for Leiland-James’ death. 


"Adoption should have been a new beginning for Leiland," he said.

"That was cruelly taken away from him by the person who should have cared for him and kept him safe.

"We are deeply sorry for Leiland's death, it should not have happened.

"Our thoughts and sympathies are with his birth family and all those who knew this little boy.

"Abuse of a child by adopters is almost unheard of and we are determined to do everything we can to prevent this happening again, here or anywhere else."

The information that has come out through the trial was both shocking and distressing.

I hope and expect that councillors of all parties will work to ensure that we understand what happened and whether there are things that could have been done differently.

I understand that an independent review from Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership will be published in July. That will look at how Cumbria County Council, and the council's partners in the NHS, worked with the family through the adoption approval process and after Leiland-James was placed with the Castles.

We must go through that report with a fine tooth comb. Cumbria County council failed that little boy and all reasonable steps must be taken that neither the existing council in its last year of life or the successor councils make the same mistakes again in the future.

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