These photos show the filthy conditions tragic Finley Boden was forced to live in before he was murdered by his drug addict parents.
Finley suffered 130 appalling injuries before he died at just 10 months old in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on Christmas Day 2020.
He had been returned to the care of Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden only 39 days earlier by a family court, despite social services raising concerns over their drug use and squalid home.
The images show mould growing on baby bottles, old fag ends left lying next to the bed and discarded takeaway meals and dirty dishes piling up in the kitchen.
One shows a bottle of Calpol sitting on a bedside cabinet surrounded by cigarette butts, ash and empty energy drink cans.
Another taken in the bedroom shows mould growing on the curtains, a baby bottle containing soured milk and bowls of half eaten food strewn on the floor.
In the bathroom, the tub can be seen filled with junk, including two bin bags full of cannabis and a bloodstained babygrow.
Finley ‘should have been one of the protected children’ before he was killed in the midst of a campaign of abuse, according to a damning review published last week.
The infant was totally failed by social workers who accepted the excuses of Boden and Marsden, and made half-hearted attempts to access him.
One even overlooked seeing Marsden appearing to buy drugs outside the filthy home in Old Whittington.
A catalogue of failures highlighted in a safeguarding report included no visits by staff while a social worker involved in Finley’s care was off sick for six weeks.
When she returned, she did not see Finley because Boden and Marsden were ‘verbally abusive’.
Two days after Finley went back to his parents, a social worker who visited their home was told a bump on his head was ‘caused by a toy’.
In the weeks before his death, six visits should have taken place but only four were attempted, the report said.
On one of those visits, there was no response from the family.
At the other three, ‘issues arose warranting further enquiry but necessary actions were not taken’.
A visit by social services on Christmas Eve 2020 – the day before Finley died – did not take place.
And it revealed that, at a family court hearing, Derbyshire county council called for Finley to be gradually returned to his parents over a four-month period but magistrates sided with his guardian – employed by family court adviser Cafcass – and reduced it to ‘six to eight weeks’.
The report was delivered by Steve Atkinson, chair of Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Parntership.
He acknowledged ‘significant mitigating circumstances’ such as Covid lockdowns, restricted access, remote meetings and ‘parental dishonesty’.
But he added: ‘These are not excuses. More could, and should, have been done to keep Finley safe.’
Finley’s parents were responsible for his death, but ‘professional interventions should have protected him’.
Boden and Marsden were jailed for murder last year.
Derby crown court heard Finley’s injuries included 57 broken bones, 71 bruises and two burns on his left hand.
The judge said the ‘savage, prolonged’ murder had a ‘sadistic motivation’.
Boden – who had already served time for violence – and Marsden were given minimum terms of 29 and 27 years respectively.
Carol Cammiss, executive director for Derbyshire children’s services, called Finley’s death ‘a tragedy for everyone who knew him and everyone involved in his care.
‘Despite significant Covid restrictions placed on our work at the time, we know there were missed opportunities for stronger practice and apologise for that.
‘We did not wait for the outcome of this review – we took immediate action to review and strengthen our systems.’
A spokesperson for Cafcass said it – and Finley’s guardian – had believed his parents ‘made and sustained changes necessary to care for him safely’.
They added: ‘What led to his death was the ability of Finley’s parents to deceive everyone involved.
‘No-one could have predicted… there was a risk that they would intentionally hurt him, let alone murder him.’
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