Safeguarding practice ‘inadequate’ in last weeks of murdered Finley Boden’s life - as Chesterfield baby should have been one of most protected children’

A new report from the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership details the involvement of social services in the release of 10-month-old Finley Boden back into his parent’s Chesterfield home 39 days before they murdered him.

The Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review into Finley’s death details numerous key findings and 11 recommendations for future improvements, detailed by independent reviewer Isobel Colquhoun.

It found that social services missed numerous opportunities to take action which may have prevented the 10-month-old baby’s death or avoidance of further harm.

The review makes clear that Covid-19 lockdown restrictions worked in favour of the deceiving parents who went on to murder their baby, but that opportunities remained for crucial intervention.

Both parents were known drug users and Mr Boden had already served time in prison for violent and threatening behaviour, the report details.

It found “multi-agency work within care proceedings was very limited and that this was detrimental to (Finley’s) welfare and safety”.

The review also found that assessments of the capabilities of the parents to look after Finley “fell short of an adequate evaluation of the risks to which the children would be exposed”.

It says Finley, who died when he was 10 months old, was “completely dependent on their parents for all aspects of their care” and as a result “there were many risks inherent in this situation”.

“This was not adequately understood,” the report details.

It also says neither of the parents received a package of support to ease the transition into Finley’s return home.

The review details: “Professionals working with the family were not consulted prior to the proposal for reunification being put to the court. They were not involved in discussion about outstanding risk. They were unaware of the details of the transition plan.

“There were, then, significant shortcomings both in terms of the assessment of the viability of reunification and in the plan to support reunification once that decision had been made.

“Because the risks to the children were poorly understood, practitioners and managers were insufficiently alert to the possibility that the children might experience harm.

“This was compounded by the absence of regular practical support to parents which limited the opportunities to identify early signs of deterioration.

“Even within that context, however, there were clear deficiencies in safeguarding practice.”

Finley was taken from his parents Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden in February 2020, shortly after he was born, after Derbyshire County Council social workers found the couple living in squalor – including faeces on the floor of their home in Holland Road, Old Whittington.

However, he was returned into their care six months later and within 39 days the couple inflicted 130 injuries on their baby boy, including 57 breaks to his bones, 71 bruises and two burns – one of which is believed to have been caused by a cigarette lighter.

Paramedics were called to the couple’s home at 2.33am on Christmas Day and Finley was taken to hospital, but despite best efforts, he was pronounced dead at 3.45am.

During last year’s court hearing into the murder, paramedics detailed that they believed Finley had been dead for longer than the couple suggested.

The couple were found guilty of murder by a Derby Crown Court jury in May 2023.

Boden, Finley’s father, was sentenced to a minimum of 29 years in prison and Marsden, Finley’s mother, was sentenced to a minimum of 27 years in prison by Judge Amanda Tipples.

More in-depth analysis of the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership report into Finley’s death will follow.