2 Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, March 24th, 2005
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Mother’s tragic plea - page 5 Headteacher writes -page 6 Home’s milestone -- page 9 Sleepwalk inquest - page 28
INFORMATION
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www.ciitheroetoday.co.uk ^1T%1
Childminder’s plea for compassion over death of Joshua
by Andrew Bellard
JUST hours before she was jailed childminder Wendy Barlow made an impassioned plea for understanding and for giveness. The mother-of-three told
how she had loved Joshua like one of her own and had never meant him any harm. And she said the tragic
consequences of her actions would haunt her for the rest of her life.
• “I can never forget what happened,” she said. “I watched a little boy die in front of me, a boy who had been entrusted to me. I let Joshua down and I let his mum down. “But what I want people
to understand is th a t I never deliberately hurt Joshua. I loved him dearly and could never have done anything to harm him. I am not making excuses for what happened that night, I was wrong and I will pay the penalty. “I know Emma and her
family have paid the ulti mate price, but I have been labelled a baby killer, some kind of monster who would deliberately hurt this baby and that is not true. “I deserve to be pun
ished for what happened, but I want people to know I have not done anything malicious or deliberate. I have made a terrible mis take that I will have to live
Please forgive me [ Advertiser andTiimes jP 9 m ClltbCTOG Thursday, March 24th, 2005 No. 4 including Barrow, Biilington, Langtio, Calderstones and Brockhall .
.www.ciitheroetoday.co.uk . Price 58p
with for the rest of my life. I know my pain is nothing compared to Emma’s and I just want her to know how sorry I am.” Barlow told how Joshua spent many hours at her home outside the contracted, Ofsted- approved childminding hours and how her daugh ter, Carmen, now 14, had baby-sat Joshua three times when she was 13 years old. On the night of Joshua’s
death his mother had asked Barlow to baby-sit so she could have a night out. “Emma and I had a
glass of wine when she came to collect Joshua at tea time and i t was only because Carmen was going to a party and could not go round and baby-sit that I eventually agreed to look after him,” she said. “Its hard to accept that I set out to help somebody by doing them a favour and ended up causing so much pain and heartache. Look ing after him tha t night was something done out of friendship and nothing to do with my work.” Barlow spoke of the pain
she has caused her own family, including husband Paul, who has had to give up his job as an off-shore marine engineer, and chil dren Carmen, Heather (10), and three-year-old Max. “Our suffering can’t be anything compared to theirs, but two families have been ripped apart by this,” said Barlow. “I know
Plea from tragic mother
PAGES ■
I will be going to prison, but I just wish I could put it away until my children grow up and then do it. “They haven’t done any
thing wrong but they are going to be punished. Things were said to the girls at first, but the schools have been brilliant. Max still asks where Joshua is, they were like brothers.” Reliving the night of
Joshua’s death, Barlow said she had left him asleep on the sofa while she went for a bath. He came into the bathroom and to soothe him she lifted him into the bath with her. Joshua slipped and banged his head and went face down into the water. “One second he was
breathing and next he was n’t,” she said. “I watched a little hoy die in front of me. When you do your first aid training they tell you how to do mouth to mouth, but they don’t tell you the child might die. I was in shock. Carmen was asking why Joshua wasn’t breathing and she fainted. It was like a bomb had blown up in
my face. I know I should have dialled 999 straight away, but I didn’t for over an hour and I don’t know why,” said Barlow. “I put Joshua in bed, I was willing him to breathe again. I made some bad decisions, some because of drink and some because I was in shock, but none because I wanted to hurt him. Bar- low said that despite her vilification in the media she had received tremendous support from her family and friends and even from the parents of other chil dren who had been trusted to her care. “They have all said they
would be happy for me to look after their children again and that is a great comfort to me,” said Bar- low. I have never deliber ately hurt a child in my life and I never would. I made some bad decisions on that night, but I never intended Joshua any harm. I am not a baby killer or some kind of beast. I loved Joshua like he was one of my own and I will never forget him. I want Emma to know how sorry I am.” Husband Paul
said that when his wife is released from prison they will sell their home in the village of Sabden and make a fresh s ta r t somewhere else. “Everyone around here,
everyone who knows Wendy, has been very sup portive and we can’t thank them enough, but this house holds too many memories now,” said Mr Barlow. Kibble Valley MP Nigel Evans raised the case during Prime Minister’s Questions last week and called for information to be given to parents about childminders. But Mr Barlow revealed
that the MP had written on his wife’s behalf when her Ofsted registration had not come through as soon | as expected. “They seem to be mak-i
ing an issue out of the fact | that Wendy was not regis-j tered to look after children! overnight, but everyone! knew that beforehand,”! said Mr Barlow. Our picture shows!
Wendy Barlow with heri husband, Paul, and threej children.
Grandmother’s ‘Justice for Joshua’ campaign by Julie Magee
THE campaign spearheaded by Joshua’s grandmother, Cathy Massey, calling for tougher legis lation for childminders gained national coverage this week. Mrs Massey (50), of Riverlea
Gardens, Clitheroe, highlighted the family’s Justice for Joshua campaign on GMTV yesterday morning and quizzed Children’s Minister Margaret Hodge at Westminster about more strin gent regulations regarding regis tered childminders. Speaking to Mrs Massey after
Barlow’s sentencing on Tuesday, she said: “We heard in court that Ofsted had concerns about Wendy Barlow’s binge drinking and it is that binge drinking that killed Joshua. “He was an innocent child, only
19 months old who could not defend himself or shout for help. Someone should have stood up
and admitted that this woman had a binge drinking problem and should have thought this is too much of a risk to let her look after a child. Ofsted has failed badly. “Someone did not do their job
properly. They had information in front of them tha t could have saved a child’s life and they did nothing with that information. “I want the law changed so that
parents are allowed to access childminders’ records and decide whether they would want to leave their child with that person.” She called on everyone in Eng
land, Scotland and Wales who has a childminder or is thinking of employing one to write to Ofsted calling for changes to be made. Mrs Massey is also calling for
childminders to undergo more thorough training. “Whatever changes are made
will not bring Joshua back, but what it will hopefully do is save another child from the same fate. To get Justice for Joshua the law
needs changing and the law will not change itself. That is why I’m
committed to campaigning for change.” Mrs Massey is being backed by
Kibble Valley MP Nigel Evans, who is calling for an independent inquiry to be conducted into Ofst- ed’s handling of the case. Mrs Massey also wants to open
up the debate on sentencing and the way children’s post-mortems are conducted. She said: “Wendy Barlow took
Joshua’s life and nothing is more important on this planet than life, as it is something we cannot give back, buy or replace - it’s unique. “My personal opinion is if
someone takes the life of another human being, they must have a minimum length of sentence - pleading guilty to manslaughter
should carry a minimum sentence of 10 years.” Mrs Massey also believes the
Government needs to overhaul the post-mortem procedures in
place when a child dies. She said:! “There’s an awful long time to| wait between post-mortems.
j “The legal system should speci-|
fy that if two post mortems are! needed, like they were for Joshua,| they should be completed within a week. We had to wait four to five weeks.
“When a child dies, you need tM _
have the funeral because it’s partr of the grieving and healing pro4 cess.” Mrs Massey said the family now wanted to move on and starfi their grieving process.
j “We must draw a line under.
Tuesday’s court case and look for4 ward.
“There is not a moment goes byj
th a t we do not think about Joshua, but we all, especially Emma and Simon must starn looking to the future.”
j Three years for killing tot
A DRUNKEN childminder whose gross negligence caused a baby boy to drown, while in the bath vrith her, has been jailed for three years. Wendy Barlow panicked when
Joshua Massey-Hodgkinson, pictured, slipped under the water. As she tried to pull him clear, he banged his head on the bath. Preston Crown Court head that she
had been looking after the 19-month- old child as a favour for his mother who had gone out for the evening. Barlow - a mother-of-three - was
Ofsted registered, but while her child- minding application was being checked out, she admitted binge drinking to a health visitor. Kibble Valley MP Nigel Evans, who yesteday described the sentence as
■ “rather lenient” is demanding an inde pendent inquiry into how Ofsted allowed Barlow to be registered as a childminder. Following the sentencing, Joshua’s
grandmother, Cathy Massey, (50), trav elled to London to see Children’s Minis ter Margaret Hodge to demand more stringent regulations for registered childminders as she launched the fami ly’s campaign: “Justice for Joshua” on GMTV yesterday morning. The court heard that four empty wine
bottles were found after the tragedy. Barlow (37), had pleaded guilty to a
charge of manslaughter following the little boy's drowning at her home in Eight Acre Avenue, Sabden in April last year. The court heard she had been reg istered as a childminder with Ofsted in June 2003. Her application had been subjected to various checks, one of which revealed she had told a health vis
itor in January the previous year that she would binge drink. Registration was only granted after satisfactory health checks had been made. Mr Michael Shorrock QC (prosecut
ing) said the boy’s mother, Emma, had employed Barlow from September 2003 to look after him, thus enabling her to return to work. She paid the defendant £100 a week. From time to time, Barlow would
take Joshua overnight so that his mum could have an evening out. It was an informal arrangement, with Barlow being paid extra at the end of the week. She also had two or three other chil
dren in her care. On Friday, April 16th, Joshua, who
lived at St Paul’s Terrace, Clitheroe, had been looked after by Barlow. I t was later arranged that she would look after him that night. At 2-30 a.m. the follow ing morning, Barlow rang her husband in Spain. Her speech was garbled and she was incoherent and crying uncon trollably. When asked, she said she had not rung the emergency services at that stage. Two police officers who went to the
house found her kneeling on the bed room floor, crying with her head in her hands and wth the baby’s body on the bed. She was in a hysterical state. Barlow told police; "He went under
the water. I don't know how long. I did n't know he had gone under the water." Blood tests showed she had been
drinking and was calculated to have considerably more alcohol than she claimed to have consumed. Four empty wine bottles were recovered from a bin. Interviewed, Barlow said she had run
a bath and the child had been asleep on the settee. She poured bubble bath in the bath, lit candles and took a glass of wine into the bathroom. She had been in the water 20 minutes
when Joshua entered the bathroom. She put him in the bath with her, sitting him between her legs. She picked him up to turn him around and wash his hair, but he then
slipped and fell. While she was trying to put him on the side of the bath he ended up banging his head and went underwa ter again. "I would never do anything to hurt
him. It was just an accident," she told police. Barlow attempted mouth-to- mouth resuscitation, pumping his chest and slapping him in a bid to bring him round. The cause of death was drowning and
it was not possible from the autopsy to say how long the drowning process had taken. She had no previous convictions. Defence barrister Mr Peter Wright
QC said Barlow had regarded Joshua as one of her family. She did not seek pity or compassion
and recognised the devastation her con duct had wrought. Joshua had died as a result of her gross negligence and there had been no criminal intent. "This woman was a caring, responsi
ble, sensible, reliable and dependable lady when not in drink. Having run a deep bath, she was going to try and relax and have more drink. Joshua, who had been alseep on a sofa, walked dis tressed into the bathroom. Mr Wright said; "She ill-advisedly
decided it would soothe him if she placed him in the bath with her, to try and relax him while he could play." But the little boy slipped and she
frantically tried to remove him from the bath. Realising he had died a t her hands, she went into a state of complete
• Grandmother launches ‘Justice for Joshua’ campaign on GMTV - page 2
' Valley MP slams sentence as ‘rather lenient’ and demands Ofsted inquiry - page 28 9 ‘I am not a baby killer or some kind of beast’ - Wendy Barlow - page 2.
and utter confusion and panic. "She has genuine and considerable contrition and remorse. The defendant has never ' sought to deny her culpability.” said Mr Wright. "She hoped and prayed that he would
come round, but he didn't. The consequences of that night will
live with her, her family and Joshua’s family forever. It is a burden which she will carry forever". Judge Peter Openshaw QC banned
Barlow from working with children in the future. He said Johsua's parents had taken every reasonable step to ensure he was properly looked after. The defen dant had looked after him for many months, without giving any cause for concern whatsoever. Barlow had developed a deep and
true affection for the child, thinking of him as one of her family. "Whether the registration process is
properly and competently conducted is not for me to say. However, I should point out that the defendant looked after a number of children without any concern whatsoever about her stan dards of care," he added. "The defendant should never have
allowed a child into the bath at all when she was too drunk to ensure his safety. "No doubt taking a ba th was, it
seems to me, an entirely self-indulgent act where no interests of the child were served by giving him a bath at that time of the night. "Joshua's death was caused by the
grossest negligence, amounting to a high degree of recklessness.
ed a situation of obvious danger, which resulted in the death of this httle boy."
WHALLEY VILLAGE NEWS: PAGE 27 B IWO FUN-PACKED EASTER OUTiUiD ABOUT PAGES-18 AND 19 Come and see the Moorcroft 2005 Launch
Ethos at Oawson^s j On behalf of all the family, she
expressed her heartfelt thanks toj everyone who has supported then through this horrendous period in
their lives. Ofsted statement - page 28 ■ MP’s call to Prime Minister for inquiry -page 28
DmSQWS DEPARTMENT STORE 54-56 King Street, Clitheroe Telephone 01200 425151
Saturday 26th March -11 am - 3pm
Visit Ethos at Dawson's and see our huge range of stunning pottery.
Moorcroft Pottery is unique, totally individual and utterly fascinating for collectors.
Why not visit Ethos at Dawson's and find out more? Easter Opening Times: Good Friday 10am - 4pm; Easter Saturday 9am ^ 530pm; CLOSED EASTER SUNDAY; Easter Monday 10am - 4om Ml "By her drunken condition she creat
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