Khyra Ishaq

Khyra Ishaq aged 7 was found dying of starvation on a matress along with her 5 other siblings in the early hours of Saturday 17th May 2008.

Khyra died shortly after arriving at hospital. Khyra's mother Angela Gordon,33 and step father Junaid Abuhamza,29 have both been charged with child neglect and have been remanded in custody until the 29th May. Paramedics entered the property in Leyton Rd, Handsworth, Birmingham at around 5.45am on Saturday morning, they found all 6 children, 3 girls and 3 boys, lying on mattresses Khyra was seriously ill the other children emaciated. All the children where taken to the near by hospital. It is believed that the remaining children have now been released from hospital.

Neighbour Emma Murphy reported her suspicions of neglect to the police after seeing the children enter her garden to eat the bread she had thrown out for the birds. Other neighbours have claimed that they had recently seen 3 of the children in recent months looking "extremely thin".

I will bring more news as and when i get it.

UPDATE......21.19pm 21/5/08
Paramedics rec'd a call at 5.00am on 17th May following complaints from Khyra of breathing difficulties. The paramedics found all 6 children on one mattress. The other 5 children are still in hospital. Khyra and her siblings were taken to the City Childrens Hospital.

Birmingham Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood has called for Birmingham City Council to begin an inquiry into the girl's death. The Labour MP said he understood that Khyra and her siblings were removed from school about 10 weeks ago amid claims that they were being bullied. An educational social worker then paid a visit to the seven-year-old's family home, and no further follow-up checks took place, Mr Mahmood said.

Updated 24/5/08
It is believed that Khyra's mother removed her children from school due to bullying, an education social worker called once at the family home, got no reply and never returned or even rescheduled a return follow up visit. Labour MP Khalid Mahmood is now calling for a full-scale inquiry by the City Council into how social workers could have missed the children's plight. The MP for Birmingham Perry Barr has already accused both the local education authority and social services of ' huge incompetence'. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has backed calls for a thorough investigation into how Khyra Ishaq was allowed to die.

Following text from Sun newspaper

Tragic Khyra Ishaq’s emaciated body was found on the floor of her home – surrounded by her badly undernourished siblings. Cops and medics found that their mum Angela Gordon appeared to have cleared the house of food and dumped the fridge in the back garden. A source said last night: “No one knows why, but it appears the mother had a mission to starve her children. She didn’t just pick on Khyra – it was just that she faded first.“The others needed immediate hospital attention. But the mum hadn’t been starving herself.” It is believed Gordon may have called 999 crews to the grim scene in Handsworth, Birmingham – where Khyra’s body was like a “bag of bones”. Her three brothers and two sisters, aged from four to 12, were gathered round the corpse in a “zombie-like” state. Their Jamaican-born Muslim mother allegedly referred to her dead daughter as “It.”
End of sun text

The biological father of Khyra, Ishaq Abu Zaire, has said the following on learning of the death of his daughter: He said the "manner of her death" was "absolutely disgraceful". I'm just as ignorant as everyone else as to what happened," " But like I say... you can put your house on it that we're going to find out, one way or another, we are going to find out exactly what happened here." " As far as I can see because I have a dead child right now, they did nothing, they did nothing."" They never lifted a finger to do anything... so they are responsible as well." He said the last time he saw all of the children, including Khyra, the girl was happy and there was "no concern... with regards to her health".

It should be noted that Khyra's father had not seen any of the children for over 1 year, it is not yet known if he had any other form of contact with them. He has been living abroad.

Khyra's grandmother said the following: Khyra's grandmother Isolene Clark described the heartache of losing her grandchild: "I cannot express the pain and hurt in my heart over the loss of my granddaughter and the treatment of my grandchildren. I am in shock and cannot understand how or why this has happened in a country that is supposed to protect children and see that no harm comes to them."

I say: Where were all these loving, doting members of Khyra's extended family during the time that she and her siblings needed them most????Perhaps Khyra's father and grandmother need to look closer to home to understand how and why this has happened in a country that is supposed to protect children. The Child Welfare System must take a portion of blame it goes without saying, as must Khyra's mother and step-father, but so also should the absent father, the extended family, the neighbours the list goes on. We must all shoulder some of the responsibilities in protecting the children of this country from evil, we all have a vital role to play.

I will continue to update the unfolding tragic story of Khyra and her siblings as and when news is available.


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