THE former leader of Haringey Council has criticised officers for not keeping him properly informed on the Baby P case. Cllr George Meehan resigned as leader in December after independent inspectors gave a damning verdict on Haringey s child protection se

THE former leader of Haringey Council has criticised officers for not keeping him properly informed on the Baby P case.

Cllr George Meehan resigned as leader in December after independent inspectors gave a damning verdict on Haringey's child protection service.

Baby P, a 17-month old child, died at the hands of his mother, her lover and a lodger in August 2007 - despite being seen 60 times by social workers and health professionals.

Mr Meehan told councillors at a meeting on Tuesday night that he was not given an accurate picture of child protection services in the borough.

"I was told by the service that children's service was good, but it wasn't," he said.

He claimed this made it difficult for him to defend the council when the media furore broke out after the trial. Mr Meehan also criticised the primary care trust for not sharing information over the case.

Cllr Gail Engert, opposition spokeswoman for children and young people, said: "It was only after constant pressure that myself and Cllr Robert Gorrie, leader of the Lib Dems, were able to read the executive summary of the serious case review a couple of weeks before it was published.

"Even then we had to sign a confidentiality agreement promising not to talk publicly about it until the summary was published after the trial on November 11.