THE death of four-month-old Emma Jade Dyson shocked the community.
MARCH 2000: Baby Emma Jade Dyson found dead in the Leeds and Liverpool canal hours after her mother Rabina Hashim reported she had been snatched from outside public toilets in Burnley town centre.
A huge police and helicopter search was sparked after the mother claimed the baby and her pram had been stolen. A post mortem has since shown the child died as a result of drowning. Days later Hashim appeared at the town's magistrates charged with her murder. MP Peter Pike called its a "tragedy."
APRIL 2000: Rabina Hashim made her first appearance at Preston Crown Court. Judge Peter Openshaw QC remanded her in custody.
JULY 2000: She pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Emma on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The case was adjourned for further medical evidence to be considered and she was remanded to Prestwich Hospital by judge Mr Justice Sachs.
NOVEMBER 2000: Rabina Hashim is sent to a secure mental unit after she admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Preston Crown Court was told the 30-year-old had a history of mental problems and a conviction for hitting another two-month-old child. Judge Peter Openshaw QC said Hashim suffered from psychiatric disorder and her condition had worsened following the birth of her daughter adding: "It is clear you are badly in need of treatment. It was a dreadful crime but you deserve sympathy and understanding not punishment and condemnation."
An inquiry was launched by social services after it was revealed Hashim had been released from Burnley General Hospital,where she had been transfered from the mental health unit at Rossendale Hospital just weeks before she threw Emma into the canal. Health bosses and social services refused to reveal why.
DECEMBER 2000: East Lancashire Health Authority commissioned an independent report into the case which it said would question the standards of care and professional judgements used by health professionals. Burnley MP Peter Pike said he wanted as much information as possible from all the investigations into baby Emma's death to be made public and he wanted to see any confidential sections of the report to ensure that nothing was swept under the carpet.
JANUARY 2001: Former mental health William D Greenwood was named as the review boss to lead the official investigation into the health care of Rabina Hashim. Other members on the panel of inquiry were named as Dr Angus Campbell, a former forensic psychiatrist, Margaret Gallagher, a clinical services manager and Peter Tallantire, a management consultant and former health administrator.
MARCH 2001: A draft report into how social services handled the case revealed care workers made five critical errors in the weeks before Emma's death. A six-person panel of social services bosses, health professionals and police was strongly critical of failings in the system which should have protected her.
It revealed that her case should have been looked at more carefully because of her mother's health problems, threats made by the mother to harm the baby were not recorded, social services failed to support the family, health and social workers failed to pass on information about the family to each other and the "vulnerable" mother and baby were left on their own after the father returned to work following the birth.' It was also revealed today that the family was left without a social worker after theirs moved away from the area.
JULY 2001: The independent inquiry report was presented to health bosses in private -- but East Lancashire Health Authority, which ordered the investigation, said findings would not be made public for at least a month. A spokesman for the authority said the report would first go to other interested parties for comment before being made public .
DECEMBER 20 2001: Report made public.
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