Courts warned children’s safety is put at risk

Expert witnesses used in court cases are risking the safety of London’s most vulnerable children and should be better regulated, a senior official said today.

Andrew Christie, director of children’s services at the merged Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea councils claims there is no “quality control”.

Controversial cases where expert witnesses were used include that of four-month-old Jayden Wray, from Islington, who had severe rickets and suffered a fractured skull and brain damage in 2009.

During the Old Bailey trial of his parents, 60 experts failed to agree on the cause of death. Rohan Wray, 22, and Chana al-Alas, 19, were cleared of shaking Jayden to death and now want a public inquiry.