Children’s services have apologised after a review found safeguarding practice was inadequate in the final weeks of the life of a baby murdered not long after being handed back to his parents.

The children’s agency involved in the decision to return Finley Boden to the couple said it was “profoundly sorry that together we were unable to prevent his death”.

Its apology was echoed by both the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership and Derbyshire County Council, with the latter recognising there had been “missed opportunities”.

A review into the circumstances leading up to his murder said the 10-month-old “should have been one of the most protected children in the local authority area” but found “significant shortcomings” in plans for him to be reunited with his parents.

Shannon Marsden and Stephen Boden inflicted 130 injuries on their son before he fatally collapsed at his family home in Old Whittington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on Christmas Day 2020.


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