Marie-Thérèse Kouao

Marie-Thérèse Kouao, Francis' aunt, was born on 17 July 1956 in Bonoua, Ivory Coast, and lived in France with her three sons, claiming welfare benefits.

She divorced her former husband in 1978, and he died in 1995.

Victoria Adjo Climbié (2 November 1991 – 25 February 2000) was an eight-year-old Ivorian girl who was tortured and murdered by her great-aunt and her great-aunt's boyfriend.

Her death led to a public inquiry, and produced major changes in child protection policies in the United Kingdom.

Victoria Adjo Climbié was born on 2 November 1991 in Abobo, Ivory Coast, the fifth of seven children.

Her parents were Francis Climbié and his wife Berthe Amoissi.

Kouao was attending her brother's funeral in the Ivory Coast when she visited the Climbié family in October 1998.

She informed them that she wanted to take a child back to France with her and arrange for their education; this sort of informal fosterage is common in the family's society.

Victoria was apparently happy to be chosen, and although her parents had met Kouao only a few times, they were satisfied with the arrangements.

From that point onwards, Kouao fraudulently maintained that Victoria was her daughter.

Kouao had originally planned to take another young girl called Anna Kouao, but Anna's parents changed their minds.

Victoria travelled on a French passport in the name of Anna Kouao, and was known as "Anna" throughout her life in the United Kingdom.

It is not known exactly when Kouao started abusing Victoria.

Victoria’s parents received three messages about her from when she left them until her death, all saying she was in good health.

Marie-Therese Kouao and Victoria Climbié left the Ivory Coast possibly in November 1998 and flew to Paris, France, where Victoria enrolled at school.

By December 1998, however, Kouao began to receive warnings about Victoria’s absenteeism, and in February 1999, the school issued a child-at-risk notification and a social worker became involved.

Born in Abobo, Côte d'Ivoire, Victoria Climbié left the country with her great-aunt Marie-Thérèse Kouao, a French citizen who later abused her, for an education in France where they travelled, before arriving in London, England, in April 1999.

It is not known exactly when Kouao started abusing Victoria, although it is suspected to have escalated to torture when Kouao and Victoria met and moved in with Carl Manning, who became Kouao's boyfriend.

Victoria would be forced to sleep bound in a black bin-liner filled with her own excrement in an unheated bathroom.

They burned her with cigarettes and scalded her with hot water, starved her, tied her up for periods longer than 24 hours, and hit her with bike chains, hammers, wires, shoes, belt buckles, coat hangers, wooden spoons, and their bare hands.

Whenever she was fed, she would be forced to eat like a dog.

On some occasions the couple would throw food at her and make her catch it in her mouth.

Up to her death, the police, the social services department of four local authorities, the National Health Service, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), and local churches all had contact with her and noted signs of abuse.

However, in what the judge in the trial following Victoria's death described as "blinding incompetence", all failed to properly investigate the case and little action was taken.

Both Kouao and Manning were convicted of murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

After Victoria’s death, the parties involved in her case were widely criticised.

A public inquiry, headed by Lord Laming, was ordered.

It discovered numerous instances where Victoria could have been saved, noted that many of the organisations involved in her care were badly run, and discussed the racial aspects surrounding the case, as many of the participants were black.

The subsequent report by Laming made numerous recommendations related to child protection in England.

The school observed how Victoria tended to fall asleep in class, and the headteacher later recalled Kouao's mentioning Victoria suffering from some form of dermatological condition and that, on her last visit to the school on 25 March 1999, Victoria had a shaven head and was wearing a wig.

When they left France, Kouao owed the authorities £2,000, after being wrongly paid in child benefit, and it is claimed that Kouao viewed Victoria as a useful tool for claiming benefits.

Kouao had also been evicted from her home in France because of rent arrears.

On 24 April 1999, Kouao and Victoria left France and relocated to the United Kingdom, where they settled in Ealing, West London.

They had a reservation in a bed and breakfast at Twyford Crescent, Acton, where they lived until 1 May 1999, when they moved to Nicoll Road, Harlesden, in the London Borough of Brent.

On 25 April 1999, Kouao and Victoria visited Esther Ackah, a distant relative of Kouao by marriage, and a midwife, counsellor, and preacher.

Ackah and her daughter noted that Victoria was wearing a wig and looked small and frail.

On 26 April 1999, Kouao and Victoria visited the Homeless Persons' Unit of Ealing Council, where they were seen by Julie Winter, a homeless persons' officer.

Together, Kouao and Winter completed a housing application form.

Kouao explained that Victoria was wearing a wig because she had short hair, an explanation accepted by Winter.

Victoria’s death was largely responsible for the formation of the Every Child Matters initiative; the introduction of the Children Act 2004; the creation of ContactPoint, a database that held information on the contacts of the various children's services with particular children (closed by the 2010 Coalition government); and the creation of the Office of the Children's Commissioner chaired by the Children's Commissioner for England.