Words: Richard Beecham, local democracy reporter
A final report into the death of a Farnley teenager is not expected to be published until at least early 2022 – more than five years after his death.
A Home Office panel has now sent Leeds City Council its findings on the report into the long-awaited report into the death of Jordan Burling, who was found emaciated in his family home in Butterbowl Garth in 2016.
But it’s understood that the final meeting to rubber-stamp the report will not take place until next year, and a date for its publication has still not been decided.
Jordan’s mother Dawn Cranston and grandmother Denise Cranston were sentenced to manslaughter and given four and three years respectively. Jordan’s sister Abigail Burling was given an 18-month sentence for causing or allowing the death of a vulnerable adult.
A review into Jordan’s death was set up in 2017 by authorities, and announced the following year once the court case had finished.
However, it was not until February 2021 that a domestic homicide review into the death had been submitted to the Government for approval.
Domestic homicide reviews look into circumstances where a person over the age of 16 has, or appears to have, died as a resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by a current of former intimate partner or family member.
The Home Office said earlier this year that a domestic homicide review quality assurance panel would rule on the case in July.
The government department this week confirmed that Leeds City Council has received feedback on the report, and that the report could be published once a quality assurance panel reviews it.
It is now understood that the Home Office comments are being considered by the report’s original author, and that a final revised report will be considered by the council’s quality assurance panel, which is expected to meet in “early 2022”.
It is still not known when the panel will authorise the publication of the final report.
Domestic homicide reviews are conducted locally by community safety partnerships and draft reports submitted to the Home Office for review.
The Leeds community safety partnership, Safer Leeds, is made up of Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Police, Leeds NHS clinical commissioning groups, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, the National Probation Trust and West Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company.
The report can only be published once the review passes the quality assurance process.
