Declan Hainey Murder: photos, the devil Kimberley Hainey and playing politics
DECLAN Hainey was murdered by his mother, Kimberley Hainey, 37. Declan Hanley’s body was left to rot in his cot for 8 months while Kimberley Hainey pretended he was alive. The Press Association has distributed photos of Declan’s home in Paisley, Renfrewshire. Declan was 15-months old when he was last seen alive. His body was partially-mummified.
The Daily Record calls Kimberley Hainey a “devil mum”.
As ever the tabloids seek to excuse the sink of human behaviour by cloaking it in something other than human. Hainey told the court:
“I was branded a monster mother. It’s not true. He was not murdered. He was not given drugs, I never did anything to harm my son. He was the most precious thing in my life.”
Janice Burns goes on to talk about Hainey in a more human setting:
Hainey was put on methadone after Declan’s birth in April 2008, and was under the care of Renfrewshire Council’s Family Matters team of health workers.
She was signed off the plan in August 2009 and her case was closed. Workers were satisfied at the time that Declan was a much cared-for child.
Declan was last seen about the same time. His gran, Elizabeth Rodden, found him dead at his home in Paisley in March last year.
The precise manner of his death has yet to be established but at Glasgow Crown Court Hainey was found guilty of “wilfully ill-treating, neglecting and abandoning the toddler and exposing him in a manner that was likely to cause him suffering or injury to his health“.
It’s grim. The Daily Mail equips the photos with wholly unnecessary captions that seem brand aware.
* The bed where Declan Hainey was left dead for up to eight months is filled with waste including empty bottles of Irn-Bru, 3 Hammers cider, Lucozade… On the table are strewn cans of Tennents lager…
* A dirty kitchen counter in the flat in Paisley, Renfrewshire, covered in unwashed dishes empty containers including Clover margarine, Lurpak butter…
* A table in the living room is covered in dirty plates, cans of beer, Irn-Bru, shampoo bottles, a Pot Noodle container stuffed with cigarette butts, a curry house menu and even Christmas cards
Even Christmas cards!
* Photos taken by investigators also show several empty vodka bottles, Dorito packets…
* Declan’s bedroom with the floor covered in clothes and toys, including the box of a Mothercare Happy Safari Mobile
* An empty milk bottle sits alongside several packets of Heinz Tomato Ketchup and a bottle of Johnson’s Baby Powder beside the TV set
New Scottish Labour Leader Johann Lamont seeks to make a political point, calling for an independent inquiry.
She demanded to know “what the First Minister has done in response to this tragic case”.
The word tragic is a very human one. It smacks of failure by fate and circumstance rather than the Daily Record’s allusion to demonic possession.
“I’m asking this question as a mother, there are mothers across the country asking the same question. These children are hidden to the system, and I’m asking what can you do? Can you have an independent inquiry to how the child protection system is working?.. Clearly there is a huge problem. If we can have an independent inquiry we can work together to challenge this most awful of circumstances that is happening in our communities and make Scotland a better place for vulnerable children.”
Can a campaign be made from a single horror story? Is the murder of a young child by his mother a case of State failure? Or can it be argued that it is the over-reliance on the State that exacerbated the problem?
By the time Declan was born in 2008, Hainey had been a heroin addict for years. She met his father in a psychiatric unit.
She seemed a good mother, at first. Social workers who helped get her on the methadone programme described Declan as “a much cared-for child” and said there were no concerns for him – so long as Hainey had family support.
The Record says:
Around 60,000 children in Scotland live with parents who abuse drugs, and 65,000 more are in the care of alcoholics.
Eighteen thousand are said tobe at high risk from their parents’ addictions or mental problems.
The police are more factual, as reported in The Scotsman:
Detective Inspector Maxine Martin said: “Declan Hainey’s murder was a horrible, tragic case. I doubt that anyone involved in the investigation or anyone who heard or read anything about the circumstances through the media will have come across anything quite as harrowing or distressing as this.
“You cannot begin to comprehend Declan’s suffering, nor can you begin to understand how a mother could have done this to their innocent, helpless child.
“There was one person and one person alone responsible for Declan’s murder and that was Kim Hainey. She deceived everyone who was close to her. She went out of her way to conceal what she did from her friends, her family and from the various agencies who wanted only to help her.”
Who to blame?
Posted: 11th, January 2012 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
