'ETHAN DIDN'T SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS... HE WAS FAILED BY SYSTEM'

MURDERED TODDLER’S AUNT CAMPAIGNING FOR NEW LAW TO ESCALATE TO POLICE VISIT IF SOCIAL SERVICES REFUSED ENTRY

- By RUTH MOSALSKI and DAVID POWELL

A TODDLER who was murdered by his grandparents was failed by social services, his aunt has claimed. Ethan Ives-Griffiths suffered “neglect and cruelty” which was “beyond words; she said.

Ethan was just two when he died in August 2021 after suffering a catastrophic head injury at the home of his maternal grandparents in Garden City, Flintshire. Michael and Kerry Ives are now awaiting a sentencing hearing on October 3 having been found guilty of his murder and of cruelty to a child under 16.

His mother Shannon Ives was convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, and cruelty to a child under 16. Ethan was severely underweight and dehydrated and suffered 40 visible injuries to his body after he moved in with his grandparents in Kingsley Road, Garden City, Deeside in June 2021.

During the trial, the prosecution said his time there was “thoroughly miserable and he was targeted by the defendants (Michael and Kerry) as an object of abuse and neglect” He was “quiet and withdrawn, small and painfully thin”.