Family of murdered toddler told new law unlikely

Maya's great aunts Gemma Chappell and Rachael Walls have campaigned for a new disclosure law

The family of a murdered toddler have been told the new safeguarding measures they want introduced in her name are unlikely to happen at this stage.

Maya Chappell, from Shotton Colliery in County Durham, died in 2022 after being violently shaken by her mother's boyfriend, Michael Daymond.

Proposals to bring in a so-called Maya's Law to help prevent similar future deaths were debated in Parliament on Tuesday, during which Children's Minister Josh MacAlister said it was not the right time for such a scheme.

The family has campaigned for a child risk disclosure scheme which would involve sharing information with a parent or guardian, improved multi-agency communication and early intervention.

Two-year-old Maya died in hospital on 30 September 2022, days after drug-user and domestic abuser Daymond, 27, called 999 reporting she was unwell.

He was jailed for life in December 2023 after being found to have inflicted a severe head injury on her.

Maya's mother Dana Carr, 24, who had ignored weeks of "torture" waged on her child by Daymond, was also jailed for nine years for allowing her death.

The little girl's family have said she would "still be alive today" if laws disclosing a parent or a caregiver's history were in place.

A petition for Maya's Law has received more than 5,000 signatures.

Maya was two when she died

Maya's great aunt Rachael Walls said fighting to get their campaign discussed in Parliament had been "helping us through our grief".

Liz Twist, MP for Blaydon and Consett, described Maya as a lover of "cake, playtime and Peppa Pig who touched the hearts of everyone" in her constituency.

She called for the closing of existing gaps in the "complex web involving the police, NHS, local authorities, the education system and families themselves" in order to "protect children as early as we can".

Having praised Maya's relatives' campaigning, MacAlister said: "I agree that we need to change the law and this is what we are undertaking.

"I do not believe now would be the time to introduce a child risk disclosure scheme specifically, but many of the proposals are reflected in what the government is taking forward with its wider children's social care reforms."

He has agreed to meet the family for further talks.