Public agencies failed teen boy shot in playground

An inquest into the death of a 14-year-old boy has found that there were "collective failings" across multiple public agencies prior to his fatal shooting.

Corey Junior Davis, known as CJ, was killed in a drive-by shooting in a playground in Forest Gate, east London on 4 September 2017.

On Friday, at East London Coroner's Court, senior coroner Graeme Irvine recorded a verdict that CJ was unlawfully killed, and highlighted systemic lapses across children's social care, youth offending, and housing services.

While it was determined these failings possibly contributed to his death, the coroner stated it could not be said to be probable.

The inquest heard how CJ, a vulnerable teenager diagnosed with ADHD, had been excluded from school and was subsequently groomed by a local gang to carry drugs.

His mother, Keisha McLeod, repeatedly asked authorities for help, including requests to be rehoused to protect her son from danger.

However, in a statement read to the inquest, McLeod said that when CJ was sent to stay temporarily with relatives outside the borough, a Newham Council social worker had informed her this meant they would close his case because he was no longer at risk.

She said she disagreed with this and raised her fears in an email to them in February 2017, telling them "I felt like we should be working together to safeguard CJ" but it felt like they were "working against each other" and that it was "a life and death situation."

She told the inquest: "I was genuinely concerned for my son's life."

The author of a serious case review told the inquest that despite the escalating risk to CJ, there had been no evidence of a robust safeguarding plan in place.

The coroner said there had been "a collective failure" between child social care, the youth offending team and mental health and housing teams to share information about CJ's case.

He said the child social care team had failed to allocate a social worker and to make a risk assessment when CJ returned to the borough in the summer of 2017.

Speaking outside the coroner's court following the conclusion of the inquest, McLeod said: "CJ was so much more than the circumstances of his death.

"He was funny, he was loving, kind, and full of dreams. He loved his family and everything he had.

"Nothing will ever bring back CJ, but I hope that this inquest means that vulnerable children who are being exploited today receive the protection that CJ needed. That would be a part of his legacy."

The coroner said CJ's killing had been a "cowardly assassination" of a "defenceless" child and that it was "shameful" there was evidence that there were people who knew who his killer was but had not come forward to police.

Detectives investigating the murder have renewed their appeal for witnesses to step forward.

"If there are people out there that know, and we know there are those people, if they can come forward and talk to us in absolute confidence, we can establish the evidentiary worth of what they can say and deal with it," Det Ch Insp David Whellams said.

Corey was found shot in Moore Walk in Forest Gate.

Police said the suspects drove away from the scene in a metallic grey 2011 Range Rover Sport that had been stolen from Haverhill Road in Balham on 24 August 2017, less than a fortnight before CJ was killed.

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