Brother demands proper inquiry and police investigation into death in 1975 of his sister in Lambeth care home

A brother is demanding a public inquiry into the death of his sister after she was asphyxiated because she had been tied to a harness on top of a care home bunkbed.

It has taken 45 years for even some of the facts surrounding the death aged just 11 months  of Sara Specterman who was in Lambeth council’s care. The inquest recorded an open verdict – ie that the death is suspicious, but is unable to reach any other available verdicts.

There was never a police investigation or a hearing about the death in October 1975 at Chevington, 25 Warham Road, South Croydon. 

But documents obtained by the South London Press reveal there were no night staff in the building at the time; “but there is always an officer sleeping within hearing of the nursery. On the night of 17 October [named officer] who sleeps near the nursery, was off duty but on call.”

But the details were at last aired last month at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) – where town hall chiefs apologised for a string of errors in her care.

Now her brother, Russell, 54, has demanded her death be properly investigated. As the IICSA heard, her late mother Rita said: “If I had done that [been responsible for the baby’s death], they would have put me in Holloway.”

Rita died aged 67 in 2002 without getting justice for her daughter.

Russell, who was himself moved 47 times while in Lambeth’s care, said: “The restraints were too big so they used a pyjama cord to tie her to the bed. Lambeth did not even put a stone on her grave at Streatham Vale cemetery. It is soul-destroying.

“My mum had wanted to bring in a cot for her but was not allowed. She was not a well woman but even she knew not to put a baby in a harness on a top bunk. The staff were not qualified and just took it personally.

“My sister Samantha was in the same block and said the staff were being horrible to Sara. The staff said she was a fantasist. They gave her a hay fever drug Phenergan four times a day which you should not get til you are eight.

“I want justice for my little sister. Police officers I have spoken to agree – even Clive Driscoll, who investigated Stephen Lawrence’s murder. But the cops just spoke to staff and that was it.

“Lambeth won’t even release her files or the coroner’s report.

“When Lambeth say sorry, they are just paying lip service.

“There were 48 deaths of children in Lambeth’s care over 20 years. Had the police known then what they know now, there would have been a charge of corporate manslaughter.

“No one has suggested compensation for my siblings or me – because we were housed outside the borough.”

Russell was nine years old at the time Sara died and the only member of the family allowed at the funeral. 

He is still traumatised by the manner of her death – and the lack of support for her brothers and sisters afterwards.

“I was not given any education by Lambeth at all,” he said. “I was abused in Lambeth homes – psychologically, physically. 

“I couldn’t read or write when I left at 15.

“They stole my sister’s life and they stole mine too.

“But the Redress Scheme is ridiculous because they say I do not qualify for the full amount as I was placed outside the borough.”

IICSA heard Sarah’s sister Samantha had spoken to her mother on the phone and said that staff force-fed the baby and tied her in the bed and didn’t look after her when the baby was crying. 

The inquest jury said they felt that extra vigilance was needed at night. 

Lambeth’s children’s director until March, Ann Hudson, told the IICSA: “I am really sorry that, at the time, there was not the sort of full investigation that there should have been. What it says to me was that it was very, very neglectful practice, including putting a very small child in — I think she was in the top bunk of a bed, and, by any stretch of the imagination, that was very, very poor practice. But I think the way in which the family was supported, or not supported, afterwards is a huge abject failure. But also the sister was saying “that’s not how to behave with my sister“. So she was trying to do the right thing. 

“It is clear to me that a very, very great number of children effectively had their childhoods stolen as a consequence of the abuse, the racist abuse, the emotional abuse, the sexual abuse, the physical abuse and the general neglect of them and their lives during a very long period of time.

“I recognise that Lambeth’s betrayal of them is very profound and was very prolonged and the failures are on many different levels. Horrendous abuse was perpetrated. So that, rather than living in safe homes, safe environments, children were placed in toxic environments where they lived in constant fear, and they could not have the ordinary life that every child needs.

“Even when they did speak out they were disbelieved.”

Lambeth’s own report on Sarah’s death said: “The bunk bed and safety harness should not have been used and there should have been extra vigilance during the night-time.

“That no young baby be, in future, put into a bunk bed to sleep at any Lambeth children’s home. That the night duty officer shall sleep in a duty room within the closest proximity to, and within hearing distance of, the babies and young children with the duly room door left open throughout the night.”

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: “Lambeth Council acknowledges the appalling treatment endured by children in its former children’s homes, and makes a full and genuine apology for the abuse that people suffered due to failings in the care system. 

“The four-week Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse investigation into ‘the extent of any institutional failures to protect children in the care of Lambeth Council from sexual abuse and exploitation’ hearings closed at the end of July. 

“We have learned lessons in preparing for the Inquiry and from listening to the witness testimony provided to the Inquiry. We will be reflecting and taking time to understand the failings which were highlighted to understand how these were allowed to take place and to ensure that these institutional failures can never be repeated. We will also closely examine the Inquiry report which will be published in due course. 

“Lambeth became the first, and so far only, council in the country to develop a redress scheme after the scale of abuse in its former children’s homes was revealed by survivors. All former residents at Lambeth children’s homes which were open from the 1930s until the 1980s and 90s are able to apply for compensation through the redress scheme.”

• In today’s print edition of the South London Press Russell Specterman is quotes as saying “The Redress Scheme is ridiculous. They say I do not qualify as I was placed outside the borough.” It should have said “I do not qualify for the full amount as I was placed outside the borough.” We are happy to correct and apologise for the error.