Authorities failed to spot that a man branded a risk to women was living with a vulnerable mother before he went on to murder her two-year-old son.
Joseph Eke, who had a history of domestic violence and drug abuse, moved in with Lauren O’Neill and her son Harry House.
Information about Eke’s background was not known to any of the organisations involved in Miss O’Neill’s ongoing welfare case due to a series of blunders.
A report has found that while Harry’s murder could not have been predicted, there were ‘lost opportunities’ that could have protected him from Eke.
In one instance, a police officer wrongly assumed the man at the house he was called to for a domestic incident was Harry’s father.
Joseph Eke (left) was found guilty of murdering Harry House (right) and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. But a damning report has revealed how authorities failed to intervene
Another chance came when the two-year-old was admitted to hospital with a nasty gash to his face he suffered when he supposedly fell onto a broken plate.
Although hospital staff questioned Miss O’Neill about how Harry got the injury and were told it had been an accident, they failed to ask to the toddler.
Days later he told his grandmother it was Eke who had caused the wound.
Eke continued to go under the radar of the authorities until he beat Harry to death while alone with him at his home in Broadmayne, Dorset, a few weeks later in May 2016.
Eke was found guilty of Harry’s murder last year and jailed for life.
The report by the Dorset Safeguarding Children Board established that Eke, 22, had only been released from prison a few months before meeting Miss O’Neill.
He had served 12 months for robbery and theft and had been assessed as a ‘potential risk to women’. He had been accused of domestic violence in his previous relationship and had drug and alcohol issues.
Eke continued to go under the radar of the authorities until he beat Harry to death while alone with him at his home in Broadmayne, Dorset (pictured)
The police were first called shortly after they started a relationship when Miss O’Neill reported that Harry’s father Joe House had threatened her new partner with a knife.
A risk assessment was carried out but because Eke had not been present at the time, his name was not included in the report and no one knew he was living with Miss O’Neill.
Two months later Eke called an ambulance after Miss O’Neill suffered a panic attack and he was heard shouting abuse at her during the 999 call.
Although Harry was staying with his father at the time, the ambulance staff were concerned and raised a child safeguarding alert.
Police carried out another risk assessment but wrongly assumed the man involved was Mr House because of their previous risk assessment and the two men having the same first name.
Eke was well known to police but the mistake meant they did not identify him as a member of the home so it was not flagged up.
After Harry had been taken to hospital for the facial wound, hospital staff failed to report the incident to the NHS health visiting team, who said if they had received this information it would have ‘significantly altered how they managed this case’ and they would have made a home visit.
A social worker who became aware that Eke was living with Miss O’Neill failed to carry out background checks on him because they were unfamiliar with the IT system.
They requested paper files but these arrived after the social worker’s manager had signed off and closed the case.
Harry was killed two weeks later.
Police officers parked near the home of Harry House shortly after Joseph Eke was arrested
The report found that the agencies involved should in the future not just focus on the mother and child but also look at the men in a child’s life.
Sarah Elliott, the chair of the Dorset Safeguarding Children Board, said: ‘This was a very tragic case and I’d like to express our condolences to the family.
‘We have highlighted where lessons can be learned, in particular, improving our knowledge of, and response to, domestic abuse.
‘Although there were many agencies and services working with this family, it appears that there was not one particular service or agency that looked at the whole picture. This is not good enough.
‘Since this devastating case, for which the offender has been brought to justice and is serving a lengthy prison sentence, agencies have been working very hard to address the areas highlighted in the review and change the way they operate.
‘It’s vital that the right information is shared with the right people, at the right time, to reduce the risk of a similar case happening again.’