THIS IS a new picture of a woman who police believe attacked a severely disabled Hackney four-year-old. The helpless boy can be seen in the photograph, although his face has been pixelated.
Two years since the incident, police are no closer to identifying the woman, who apparently deceived an agency to work as a carer. Her identification is urgently needed because she may be working in the borough or elsewhere in this country in a similar role.
The video is believed to have been installed by the family after doubts arose about the behaviour of the carer assigned to the boy, who required 24-hour care and was unable to communicate.
The suspect is in her thirties, heavily built and about 1.5m (5ft) tall. She told an agency, Goldsmith Personnel, that she was Bola Bolatiwa. The Kingsland Road E8 4AA social-care provider describes itself as being “committed to quality and customer satisfaction”.
Not long after the attacks on the child, police issued a press release with a less-clear photograph of the woman, from the same video.
They issued it again this year and both handouts were published by national and local news outlets, although not by Loving Dalston, which noticed no substantial difference between the 2012 and the 2014 news releases. This site sought more information.
Detective Nareece Chrisite, of Hackney’s child abuse investigation team, subsequently revealed: “The details provided to the agency related to a female nurse. When CRB [Criminal Records Bureau] checks were completed, they came back as satisfactory.”
The detective said that early in the investigation a nurse of the name given to the agency was located by police. The nurse did not recognise the suspect.
Chrisite said: “The only explanation for her [the nurse’s] details being used is that she has lived in various house-shares in London, during her ten years of being a nurse, whereby post has not been secure.
“It is likely that this has allowed the suspect to gain access to her [the nurse’s] details, including her national insurance number.”
The Metropolitan Police has been helpful in providing Loving Dalston with information, including the picture at the top of this page. It should be
borne in mind that the woman’s appearance may have changed in the two years since the video was recorded.
At the Care Quality Commission, Sally Warren, deputy chief inspector of adult social care for London, told Loving Dalston that the commission had made five inspections of Goldsmith Personnel since 2011.
She said: “Following the allegations in 2012, CQC inspectors visited the agency to check that they were taking appropriate action to try to safeguard people in their care.”
Another inspection was made after the local authority checked recruitment procedures. The commission found that “appropriate pre-employment checks (including identity checks, references and CRB checks)” were made.
Warren said: “CQC’s understanding is that the individual concerned had provided false information to the agency and that they did not supply bank details. CQC raised this issue with the provider at the time of the inspection.”
Alison Berridge, CQC’s London and SE regional engagement manager, said: “We inspected in May 2012, two months after the incident… the focus was on checking whether the provider was safeguarding people.”
The further inspection in 2013 took place after the police told the commission of the lack of bank details and false reference information.
Goldsmith declined several requests to put its side of the story.
The boy died a few weeks before Christmas 2012. The police say his death was not connected to the assaults.
David Altheer 151014
* If you think you have relevant information, please contact DC Nareece Chrisite on 020 8217 6556, quoting reference 4606274/12, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.