THE mother of a teenage girl who died on a freezing street outside a drug den is to be paid £10,000 - after social workers failed to protect the child.

Despite warnings from the desperate mum that the 15-year-old was involved in drugs and prostitution, Manchester social services department took no action to save her.

Today, an Ombudsman's report accused the local authority of ''maladministration'' and the town hall has agreed to deliver a personal apology to the mother and hand her £10,000 in compensation.

Simone Valentine was brought to Manchester from Scotland by mum Susan Grant in 1998. She had been getting into trouble and was put under supervision by her local authority in Edinburgh.

It was a new life and a new hope, but less than a year later, Simone was found dying on a freezing street. She had collapsed with a heart attack after taking morphine, heroin and cocaine in the squalid drugs den in Mount Street, Clayton.

Mum's plea

At an inquest, Ms Grant said she had begged the council to put the girl into secure accommodation, to protect her from her 27-year-old boyfriend, who was destroying her life.

''I told them I didn't want her back in a body-bag, and that is more or less what I got,'' she said.

Ms Grant said today: ''This was never about money, it's about justice. The Ombudsman's investigator has told me the £10,000 is not for the loss of my daughter, it is compensation for what social services put me through.

''There are a couple of things in the report I disagree with, but I think it clearly shows that my complaint was justified.

''It shows I have been telling the truth all along - and they did fail my daughter and myself, contrary to the statement social services gave when Simone died.''

Local Government Ombudsman Patricia Thomas, who prepared the report published today, described a series of failings within Manchester social services.

''The council let the girl and her mother down,'' she said.

''I do not say that her death could have been avoided, but, equally, I cannot say that a different, better-planned, multi-agency strategy would not have saved her life.

''The council has agreed that the girl's mother will receive a comprehensive apology and £10,000 compensation.

''No amount of money can compensate for the life of a child, and the figure I have agreed with the council does nothing other than serve as tangible and public recognition of failings which I trust will not be repeated.''

Officials are also criticised for attempting, during an internal inquiry into the tragedy, to place the blame for Simone's death on one social worker who tried to help her.

'Scapegoat'

The Ombudsman said: ''Criticism of him was grossly unfair. An impartial reader of the council report could fairly conclude they were attempting to make him a scapegoat.''

Mrs Grant decided to move her family from Scotland to Manchester, to get parenting help from Simone's father, who already lived in Wythenshawe.

She contacted the local authority to tell them about her daughter's problems.

The Ombudsman discovered there was confusion over how a Scottish supervision order would translate to an English version.

But she said: ''I cannot accept the fact that no one grasped the nettle and took charge of clarifying the issue.''

She added: ''It surprises me that the council never regarded this 15-year-old girl, new to the city, a persistent absconder, a non-school attender and a girl whose mother believed she was involved with prostitution and drug abuse, as worthy of a case conference.''

Manchester director of social services, Heather Stephens, who has agreed to make a personal apology to Mrs Grant, today confirmed that recommendations in the report had already been implemented.

She said: ''The death of this young girl was tragic and deepest sympathies have been expressed to her family.''

A police probe failed to unearth sufficient evidence to charge anyone in connection with Simone's death.

Det Chief Insp Jim Smith, who headed the investigation, said today he had sympathy for the social services department in its dealings with Simone, who was a ''strong individual intent on taking on a particular lifestyle''.

Tweet