Courtney Crockett

Courtney Cockett born on the 18th February 2001 and died on January 5th 2005, aged 3.

Courtney lived with her mother, Sandra Bennell , and her stepfather, Gareth Rees, Baguley, Manchester. Courtney's torment began on the 17th of December 2004, the day of Rees moving into Bennell's home. Her final Christmas amounted to a onslaught of abuse that involved her being beaten, punched, kicked and burned by her mother's boyfriend. Her mother turn a blind eye to the abuse and covered the injuries up with makeup. By Christmas Day 2004 Courtney had a massive bruise stretching from her eyes to the top of her forehead. When she complained to Rees's visiting relatives, he told them she had been in a car crash.

Courtney was struck with a reinforced cardboard stick whenever Rees considered that she had been too slow in changing channels on the tv. He would tie her to a radiator with scarves before kicking and hitting her. Rees launched his final assault on Courtney on Dec 29. As she lay injured he ordered Bennell not to dial 999. When Courtney died on Jan 5, doctors found she had 100 injuries. These included a bite to her leg, a suspected cigarette burn, and whiplash injuries to her neck. The latter are thought to have been inflicted when Rees swung her round the house by her legs. Courtney’s natural father Paul Crockett, phoned social services days before she died after noticing extensive bruising on the child’s face and bottom. But the social worker was on holiday and never returned his call – and Courtney died the following week.

Mr Crockett, 24, said: ‘The bruises were black and blue. They looked awful." "I tried to phone social services but the social worker was not there at the time because it was the Christmas holidays. She never called me back. I just wish they had done something about it before it was too late.’"Courtney’s grandmother Carol Crockett, 53, said: "Social services have not learned any lessons as far as Victoria Climbie and other children who have been in similar situations are concerned.""They can’t just leave children in situations like that and not do anything about it. They should have acted and if they had done Courtney would not have died, she would have been protected.""

Courtney was subjected to repeated acts of violence in the ten days before her death. On Christmas Day and Boxing Day, she complained to Rees’s relatives, who were visiting the house, about a sore bump on her head. But the fatal blow occurred on December 29.Despite her injuries, Courtney was not taken to hospital until January 3 and only at a worried neighbour’s insistence. She died two days later. The cause of death was brain damage but a Home Office pathologist discovered mutiple injuries on her body. Rees, 21, was jailed for ten years for manslaughter, he admitted manslaughter and child cruelty against Courtney and cruelty against a five-year-old child who survived his violent outbursts previously.

Bennell, 24, was jailed for three years after admitting child cruelty. Ironically, at the suggestion of her social workers, Bennell had agreed a few weeks before Courtney’s death to attend a ‘parenting’ course. Some police officers and Courtney’s father were angered by the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision to accept Rees’s guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter, rather than murder. But the CPS said the charge was downgraded because it could not prove that Rees – who was also charged with sexual offences against Courtney which were left on file – intended to kill his victim. Social services had previously expressed concerns about Bennell’s parenting skills and were monitoring the situation. Social services failed to follow up Mr Crocketts reports of abuse during the christmas holidays.

RIP Courtney Crockett your safe from harm now, you have lots of other special little angels to play with.