A children's services boss who lost her claim for unfair and wrongful dismissal said she is glad she stood up for what she knew ‘to be right’.

The case has cost Salford council £175,000 in legal fees, and senior councillors will meet tomorrow to decide whether to submit an application for costs against Jill Baker.

Mrs Baker, 56, was dismissed for gross misconduct in December 2009 following the death of a toddler.

She took the local authority to an employment tribunal in a bid to clear her name.

But last week the tribunal concluded the council was justified in dismissing her.

Mrs Baker’s sacking followed the death of two-year-old Demi Leigh Mahon, who was repeatedly let down by social workers. She was murdered by her 15-year-old babysitter, Karl McCluney in July 2008.

The tribunal judgement said the council could reasonably conclude Mrs Baker had committed a ‘serious error of judgement’ in announcing to the media that no one would be disciplined after a damning report into the child’s death without consulting key town hall bosses.

It also found Mrs Baker had failed to ‘progress’ a review of social worker teams ‘with potential fatal consequences caused by confusion and gaps’ in an inadequate service.

It added that an Ofsted report published in August 2009 found that safeguarding of children – the monitoring and care of children living in the community but at risk of neglect or abuse – was inadequate. That report, it says, demonstrated the failure of Mrs Baker to address serious deficiencies highlighted in another report 18 months earlier.

It also found she was at fault when she failed to turn up for a meeting with police after a care home runaway attempted suicide.

Mrs Baker said: “I am disappointed in the outcome but I am glad that I have had the opportunity of putting my side of the case. I have always felt that it is important to stand up for what I know to be right and, as the tribunal decision reveals, this case was not all one-sided.

“I can understand how the tribunal, within the legal parameters in which it must work, made their finding and I do not intend to appeal against the judgement.

“Salford council has never criticised me as an educationalist – on the contrary, they have been complimentary, referring to me as ‘a skilled educationalist’ I now intend to move on and continue my work in the field of education.”

Norman Owen, leader of Salford’s Liberal Democrats, said: “In my view Mrs Baker has been made a scapegoat. Other – political – heads should have rolled, not hers.”

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