Kol Page was brutally attacked by former Territorial Army soldier Scott O’Connor, The Mirror reports. The authorities missed many possible opportunities to save Kol after his mother, Zoe Coutts, cancelled five home visits in the months before he was hospitalised in April 2022.

Photographs later showed that the poor two-year-old had “significant bruising” on days he had been due to be seen at his home in Bromley, south London. O’Connor had ruthlessly beaten the child over several months, and the couple told family and friends that he was always “falling off things and bumping into things”.

Coutts had cancelled planned visits from a Family Support Worker from Bexley Council in south London, on five occasions between November 2021 and March 2022. The continuous abuse culminated in the toddler being rushed to hospital on April 25 2022, when doctors found he had serious internal injuries.

Kol was left with catastrophic brain damage and severe disabilities, meaning he needed round-the-clock care. O’Connor, who had a history of violence and drug abuse, had visited the family home 28 times in the month before Kol’s death and stayed overnight on 16 occasions.

Scott O’Connor(Image: PA)

This was despite it being a domestic abuse refuge that banned male visitors. The last time the family was seen by the authorities was on March 22, two days before Coutts moved to the supported housing in a neighbouring local authority area.

A spokesperson for Bexley Council said Kol did not have an allocated social worker as “no safeguarding or child protection issues were noted at that time”. The council stressed the family were being supported by an Early Help scheme, a voluntary service that parents cannot be forced to engage or accept help.

A Met Police spokesman confirmed the family were not known to the force. Kol went on to spend 14 months in hospital before moving to live with a foster family.

Two years later, on June 29, 2024, he died from his injuries aged four.

The couple were cleared of murder last week at Southwark Crown Court. O’Connor was convicted of manslaughter while Coutts was found guilty of causing or allowing Kol’s death. They are due to be sentenced in May.

Kol was left with catastrophic brain damage and severe disabilities, meaning he needed round-the-clock care(Image: PA)

A report published in March, led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, found five victims of domestic abuse die every week on average with 1,012 abuse-related deaths in four years. There were 262 such homicides in England and Wales in the year to March 2024.

Of these, 80 victims were killed by their partners, 31 by an adult family member. Sara Sharif, who was murdered at her family home in Woking, Surrey, was one of 11 children who died.

Father Urfan Sharif, 43, was sentenced to serve at least 40 years in jail for her murder, while her step- mother Beinash Batool, 30, got a minimum term of 33 years. Sara’s uncle Faisal Malik, 29, was sentenced to 16 years for causing or allowing her death.