Mother of murdered six-year-old Keziah: "The authorities failed to protect us"

Today (Thursday), NHS England published a report into the deaths of Keziah and her father, Darren Flux-Edmonds, who took his own life after killing his daughter.

On June 1, 2016, Darren drowned Keziah in the bath, and killed the family dogs, before arranging their bodies on her bed. He then hanged himself.

He texted Keziah's mother, Nikki, vowing to leave her with 'just memories'.

The report concluded the tragedy of Keziah's death could not have been predicted. However, there was enough evidence to suggest that, at the time, Darren was at significant risk of ending his own life by suicide.

Nikki said the authorities failed to communicate with Darren effectively.

She said: "His needs were just ignored. He told them he had real difficulties in talking to people, yet when he did speak to them it didn’t seem to make any difference at all.

"He told them we'd split up. He told them he had no friends, and no contact with his brother or father, and that he rarely went out.

"But despite this, they reported he had no problems with relationships, occupation and activities.

"This just does not add up. It is a serious failing."

Chief executive at the Isle of Wight Trust, Maggie Oldham, apologised to Nikki, and paid tribute to her 'strength and dignity' throughout the process.

She said: "This tragedy was shocking and the impact devastating for Nikki’s family, friends and community, and the effects are enduring for everyone touched by what happened. On behalf of the trust I am very sorry that we did not do more."

The report found information recorded by the trust staff was minimal and no effort was made to contact Darren's family.

Darren was unable to complete written homework given to him by a therapist because of his dyslexia and no adjustments were made to accommodate this.

There was evidence Darren's comments to staff indicated elements of domestic abuse, which should have triggered concerns among practitioners.

Nikki said: "I was unaware of how unwell he was, and how dangerous the potential strain of looking after his daughter could be to him.

"The report says he once told his case-worker he thought his daughter hated him.

"It says he mentioned to his case-worker he dreamt of killing us both.

"Yet we were not told, and the lack of official action, or apparent concern, meant he continued having care of Keziah regularly."

The trust has now made changes to the way staff are trained and assessed.

Staff have to ask about any children a patient has responsibility for, and an extensive child protection training programme has been brought in throughout the trust.

A new domestic violence policy for the trust is also being approved.

Ms Oldham said:  "I don’t know if we could have prevented what happened, but I do know we didn’t do everything we should and could have tried. I also know that everyone involved in health services was devastated by Keziah’s death by her father and his suicide.

"They believed they were doing the right thing and are totally committed to ensuring we have better practice and systems in place."

Nikki said there were serious failings by the authorities.

"We were not protected, we were placed at risk. This appalling tragedy has left me a completely different person, now needing help myself," she said.

"It shouldn't have happened."

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