New inquiry after abused infant died like Baby P

A fresh inquiry has been launched into how an infant died after suffering "horrific" abuse like Baby P.

The review comes amid concerns that authorities in Camden and Newham failed to save eight-week-old Rhys Biggs, who suffered numerous fractured ribs and a broken wrist and shoulder at the hands of his mother, Claire Biggs.He died in May 2006.

The case echoes the tragedy of Baby P, who died aged 17 months in 2007 after suffering 50 injuries including a broken back. Baby P had been seen 60 times by health and social workers but Haringey authorities failed to save him.

Rhys's former crack addict mother Biggs, 27, already had one "at risk" child taken into care. She repeatedly failed to turn up to agreed appointments with health workers.

When she did keep an appointment, a health visitor described Rhys as "active and alert", and a senior paediatric physiotherapist checked Rhys's club foot. No "abnormal marks" were noted.

Two days earlier, Biggs's live-in boyfriend, Paul Husband, 33, had called NHS Direct because Rhys had been screaming for hours and was having trouble breathing.

Both Biggs and Husband were convicted of child cruelty charges at Inner London crown court yesterday and remanded in custody to be sentenced next month.

Child protection teams in Camden and Newham said they were "sorry" for what had happened to Rhys and launched a fresh review of the case.

It comes as the man responsible for giving Haringey children's services a clean bill of health despite the Baby P tragedy has quit.

Michael Hart resigned as director of children's services at Ofsted "to pursue different career interests".