Zakari Bennett-Eko: Dad who killed baby son 'lost' by care system

Zakari Bennett-Eko died after being pulled from the River Irwell in September 2019

A man who killed his baby son by throwing him into a river became "lost" to the care system after moving between areas, a serious case review has found.

Zak Bennett-Eko, 23, was sentenced to a hospital order after being found guilty of the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of his son Zakari.

The review found there had been several failings in the care of Bennett-Eko, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.

Bury Council said it was "truly sorry".

Bennett-Eko, 23, threw 11-month-old Zakari into the River Irwell from a bridge in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, on 11 September 2019.

The Nightingale court in Salford heard Bennett-Eko believed his child was turning into the devil before he threw him to his death.

Jurors were told he had asked to be sectioned at North Manchester General Hospital three days prior to the tragedy.

'Increased vulnerability'

The serious case review, published by Bury Integrated Safeguarding Partnership, highlighted 13 factors which "produced a pathway of harm" including that Bennett-Eko's "learning disabilities and mental health needs were not met" in the months leading up to the tragedy.

Paul Sharkey, who led the review, said he had "become lost" to the Manchester adult social and health support agencies when he and Zakari's mother, Emma Blood, were relocated to Bury in June 2018 by Manchester Housing Solutions.

The report said that increased the family's "social isolation and increased vulnerability".

He also criticised a "lack of a robust system" for children and family assessments for determining interventions.

Mr Sharkey said there was a "lack of a multi-agency understanding and appreciation of the inherent vulnerability of infants".

In August 2019, Bennett-Eko was discharged from the Manchester learning disability service due to a lack of attendance.

The report said a "flawed" assessment carried out by Bury Children's Social Care in May 2019 did not take into account the risks of him not taking his medication and reverting to cannabis use.

'Determined'

Bury Council said it was "truly sorry" and accepted "lessons must be learned".

"There were failures in the way public services supported [Zak] manage his mental health problems, which were compounded by his drug use, domestic violence and learning disability," Tony Decrop, assistant director of social care and safeguarding at the authority, said.

"There was also a failure to appreciate fully the risk the father posed to [his son].

"All the agencies involved are determined to do all they can to prevent something like this happening again."

He said staff had received further training, management oversight of social work had increased and a new model of practice had been introduced for social workers and partner agencies to "strengthen working relationships with families".

Dr Henri Giller, independent chair of the Manchester Safeguarding Partnership, said "significant" lessons had been learnt from the tragic case with procedures put in place "to mitigate against similar shortcomings in the future".

Bernadette Enright, executive director of adult social services for Manchester City Council, said policy had now changed "to support continuity of care" and work in a much more integrated way with health and social care colleagues, in mental health and in learning disability services.