London Police alerted to 'distressed' mother hours before child killings

Police alerted to 'distressed' mother hours before child killings
Last updated 12 minutes ago
Senior police officer describes scene as 'something no human being should ever have to see in their life'
Woman, 21, sectioned under Mental Health Act
• Social services launch inquiry into family's case
Helen Carter and Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk, Friday November 14 2008 00.01 GMT The Guardian, Friday November 14 2008

The family of a baby and his two-year-old brother who were stabbed to death at home expressed their complete devastation yesterday at the loss of their "beautiful, innocent" children.

A senior police officer described the scene inside the home in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, as "something no human being should ever have to see in their life". Police and ambulance crews who attended the house have been offered counselling.

The boys, Romario Mullings-Sewell, two, and his three-month-old brother Delayno, were discovered at 6pm on Wednesday, a few hours after a family doctor had called police to express concerns at the erratic behaviour of their mother, Jael Mullings. The brothers had single stab wounds to their abdomens.

As Mullings, 21, was arrested on suspicion of murder and sectioned under the Mental Health Act yesterday it emerged the family was known to social services, though the children were not on the at-risk register. The admission that the family was on the radar of social services is likely to once again focus attention on the efficiency of child protection measures in the wake of the death of Baby P in Haringey, north London.

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