The parents of Victoria Climbie, killed in one of Britain's most horrific child abuse cases, are today expected to give evidence at the public inquiry into her death.
In a statement read at the inquiry yesterday, Mr and Mrs Francis and Berthe Climbie angrily condemned the standard of child-protection services that allowed their daughter to be neglected, tortured and murdered.
They also spoke of their alarm at the pain Victoria endured at the hands of her great-aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, because of Britain's "defective" child protection.
Victoria (8) had 128 separate injuries on her body when she died in Tottenham, north London, in February 2000. In January this year, Kouao (44) and Manning (28) were given life-sentences for murder.
The Climbies had sent Victoria from their home in the Ivory Coast to England in the care of Kouao to receive a better education.
In the statement, Mr and Mrs Climbie spoke of the "deep-rooted and wide-ranging problems" afflicting the system that still had not learnt from the deaths of previous child abuse victims.
"Victoria's death was contributed to by professional shortcomings on the part of individuals, social services and personnel which had the consequence that Kouao and Manning were able to continue to abuse Victoria until she died," the statement read.
PA