Little Anna Climbie was forced to sleep in a freezing bath, lying in her own excrement, dressed only in a bin bag, fed scraps of left-overs "like a dog".
She had left her poor parents on the Ivory Coast for a better life with a great-aunt, first in Paris, then in Tottenham, north London. But the little girl with the big smile would suffer "truly unimaginable" abuse before her death from hypothermia only one year later.
Just eight years old, Anna was bound so long she walked with a stoop. Beaten with an assortment of weapons, including coat hangers and a bicycle chain, she was found malnourished and with 128 bruises covering her body from head to toe when she died in February of last year.
"Murdered by her carers. . . failed repeatedly by the child protection system" - that was the candid response of the Health Secretary, Mr Alan Milburn, as he ordered a statutory inquiry into what a Home Office pathologist described as "the worst case of child abuse I have ever encountered".
Mr Milburn announced the inquiry immediately after a jury yesterday found Anna's greataunt, Marie Therese Kouao (44), and her boyfriend, Carl Manning (28), guilty of murder and neglect - by a majority 10 to two verdicts - on the fifth day of its deliberations.
Both were sentenced to life imprisonment with concurrent sentences, Kouao 10 years and Manning eight years, for cruelty.
French citizen Kouao, who has three grown-up sons in Paris, denied murder, manslaughter and cruelty. She initially tried to tell police the child's condition had been caused by withchcraft: before her death Anna had been forced to attend a series of evangelical churches to pray for relief from her "demons".
While denying murder, Manning - who had described the child as "Satan" in a diary - admitted manslaughter and cruelty. Claiming responsibility for about one-third of her injuries, Manning admitted hitting Anna over the head with a bicycle chain. And in one chilling piece of testimony, read out in court, he confirmed how the child had suffered in silence: "You could beat her and she would not cry at all. She could take the beatings and pain like anything."
In all, nine statutory agencies - including two hospitals and three local authorities - failed to save Anna. The child maintained that her injuries were self-inflicted. But after one misdiagnosis, staff at a second hospital, North Middlesex, expressed serious concerns - only to find themselves overruled by a social worker and a child protection officer. They allowed the child to be returned to Kouao and Manning without first conducting a home visit because of the risk of contracting scabies.
The child protection scheme investigation was described in court as "blindingly incompetent". Miss Linda Stern QC told the jury: "You may think they did not do their jobs properly because if they had she would not have been returned, and her death may have been prevented."
Haringey social worker Ms Lisa Arthurworrey has been suspended, and child protection officer PC Karen Jones is one of eight police officers now subject to a second inquiry by the Police Complaints Authority.
Betraying his strong feelings as he delivered judgment yesterday, Judge Richard Hawkins said: "Plainly lessons must be learnt about the failure of social services and the police inquiry following Anna's release from the North Middlesex hospital in August 1999."
Saying it was not for him to go into detail, the judge added: "I would like to be kept informed as to the result of any inquiry."
Neither Kouao nor Manning displayed any emotion as Judge Hawkins passed sentence after describing the murder of "a lovely child, Anna", who had left the Ivory Coast "full of hope and love" but arrived in Britain with Kouao doubly incontinent due to the "emotional abuse" to which she had already been subjected.
With government teams set to move into its area to improve standards, the lead protection agency responsible in Anna's case expressed its deep regret. Ms Anne Bristow, Haringey Council's director of housing and social services, said: "We are appalled by this tragedy which we should have been able to prevent. The system failed Anna - and we are part of that system. The family had contact with three local authorities, police and child protection officers and two hospitals.
"As the lead child protection agency in Haringey, we should have acted to protect this child and we accept responsibility for our failure."