| Location | Sheffield |
| Age | 3 years |
| Date of Death | 10/2007 |
| Visitors | 8,129 since 12/06/2008 |
| Creator |
Tiffany Wright aged 3 starved to death by her mother and stepfather. This little girl deserves to
be remembered, her story must be told.
A three-year-old girl as fragile as a 'tiny porcelain doll' died in squalour after being
starved and neglected by her cruel mother and stepfather, a court was told.
Tiffany Wright was 'unloved, unwanted and left to die alone' in her bedroom above a pub
run by the parents.
The sad little girl would be seen by passers-by staring out of the first floor window. She was
stopped from going to nursery and kept away from other children of her age, yet tragically no one
intervened to save her.
The Scarbrough Arms pub where the body of 3-year-old Tiffany Wright was found
It is difficult to imagine a more horrific 'natural' death. Weakened by lack of food and
water, Tiffany died from pneumonia.
Paramedics found her lying in a filthy bed in a beetle-infested room at the Scarbrough Arms on Addy
Street, Sheffield. The youngster had been dead for up to two days. She was shockingly underweight
and her body covered in insect bites.
Her mother Sabrina Hirst, 22, and stepfather Robert Hirst, 54, were originally charged with murder.
But the Crown Prosecution Service accepted Sabrina's guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds
of 'gross negligence' and her partner's plea to a lesser charge of neglect.
Tiffany's stepfather Robert Hirst, 54, has been found guilty of neglect
The couple have also pleaded guilty to the neglect of a 12-month-old child.
Both were remanded in custody on Wednesday by Judge Alan Goldsack, QC, who adjourned the case at
Sheffield Crown Court for reports.
The court was told Tiffany's death was a result of repeated and severe malnourishment. A post
mortem examination found development of her bones had been abnormal, indicating malnourishment and
growth happening in bursts when she had been fed.
The pathologist also discovered the organ responsible for her immune system was 'much
smaller' than it should have been.
Seven months before she died Tiffany was seen by a health visitor and 'appeared healthy and
well.'
It is not known whether the family were involved with social services, but a multi-agency
investigation has been launched into her death.
Detectives believe the little girl had been loved as a baby and toddler, but when Robert Hirst came
into her life things were to dramatically change.
Not only was she starved of love and attention, but they failed to give her the most basic level of
care by denying her food and water.
Experienced police officers have been left shocked by the tragic case.
Outside court Detective Inspector Steve Williams, said: 'We think this neglect had been going
on for months and that those last few months, weeks and days of her life she was unloved, unwanted,
starved of attention and left alone to die and she would have known that.
'Children are a gift who should be cherished. Parents everywhere, those who have lost them and
people unable to have them will find this treatment unbearable and unthinkable.
'She was like a tiny porcelain doll, so tiny and frail and we all wondered how this had been
allowed to happen in this day and age.'
He added: 'This must never happen again and if people have any concerns at all or suspicions
about the welfare of a child they must call somebody because out of every thousand calls followed up
if only one turns out to be founded and a child's life is saved it is worth it.'
The Hirsts were licensees of the Scarbrough Arms in Sheffield. The court heard for over 13 months
before Tiffany's death, they were 'in a habit of leaving children locked up in residential
quarters upstairs.'
When the girl died last September police found the house in a squalid condition, with live
electrical wires hanging from the walls and one room where the family dogs were kept was full of
excrement and urine.
The court heard the decision to accept the mother's manslaughter plea had been made because it
could not be proved she knew her actions would have killed Tiffany. While Robert Hirst escaped with
a neglect charge because he started a new job, assisting a lorry driver, a week before her death and
was away 12 or 13 hours a day.
The judge said he had breached his duty of care to check on Tiffany, while Sabrina had never been
able to answer a single question as to how this child could die in her care.
Alan Jones, Chairman of the Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board, said he was 'immensely
saddened' by the tragedy and a serious case review was being carried out.
He said the inquiry would 'look at the involvement that agencies had with this family and to
make sure any necessary changes are made so that children in Sheffield are no longer put at risk in
this way.'
TODAY 27TH JUNE 2008
SABRINA HIRST RECEIVED 12 YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR MANSLAUGHTER
ROBERT HIRST RECEIVED 5 YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR CHILD CRUELTY.
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IF YOU WISH TO DISCUSS ANY ELEMENTS OF THIS MEMORIAL PLEASE EMAIL ME AT
sharonlbradford@hotmail.co.uk
gone but not forgotten
hello sweetheart.im so sorry that the people who were supposed to love care and protect you failed so miserably.not a day goes by that i dont think about you.i hope that you have at last found peace and the unconditional love that you so deserve.sending you lots of hugs and kisses.sweet dreams angel.goodnite and godbless.xxxxx
Cruel loss of a sweet and innocent child
How could they have done this to you ? How could so many people have been blind? I think of you every day and cry in my heart for what you suffered, the love you did not know and for the life that was taken from you.
God bless sweet Tiffany - rest in eternal peace x
Tiffany the little princess
So sorry Tiffany, to think that we were working in a building at Upperthorpe, so near to where you suffered all that pain and loneliness, and yet none of us knew that you were in there so alone and frightened. I just wish we could have known and gone in there to break down the doors and rescue you sweetheart. it breaks my heart to know that we were so close to you and yet so far away. I have 2 children, one is 4 and I can't imagine how they could treat you like this. I think about you every day, and just wish we'd known something, us like many others could have given you such a better life. So sorry that you have been let down by everyone. RIP sweetheart, hope you are safe and free from harm up there in heaven with all the angels. Big hugs sweetheart. good night!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Goodnight Sweetheart
You are in a better place now darling. I am deeply saddened by your story. I have a little girl who is 4 and a little boy who is 2 and couldn't imagine them being starved of all that is a basic human right. You never deserved it. I hope you fell asleep with dreams of a better life and hope you are enjoying your new found life in Heaven with the angels.
I am sending you lots of hugs and love because you deserve it. Take care precious sweetheart, you will be in my thoughts xxxxxxx
I can't believe this has happened to you my dear little love. You were let down by so many, I can't believe that noone had any concerns about you. Given the chance I would have been your mummy as I'm sure many other kind ladies would. I would have loved, protected and treasured you for the wonderful gift you are. I'll never forget you, you'll always be in my heart. XXX
To a beautiful little Princess
Tiffany, I am literally broken-hearted, I can't believe what they did to you, I am devasted, tears are rolling down my cheeks as I write this message.
Believe me sweetheart, if any of us had known what you were going through, that awful pub would not have had any customers in it, but instead a barrage of lovely and kind people breaking down the doors to save you and take you away to safety, happiness and loving caring environment.
Although I never met you, are in my heart and although your so called 'mother' didn't show any love, I like so many others love you VERY VERY much indeed. I know you are playing happily in heaven now... may God keep you in his care Tiffany until the day we can see you there.
RIP little Princess, with all my love, hugs and kisses. Angela XXXX
Tiffany
I see your picture with your wee cuddly toy, you showed that toy so much love. I hope in our last days on earth that you at least had that toy for comfort.
You deserved so much love and I know in heaven you are surrounded by that love.
RIP little one.....and know that you will never be forgotten
THE SUN author Jane Moore
HELPLESS three-year-old Tiffany Hirst died of pneumonia due to severe malnourishment while living in “squalor, filth and degradation”.
She hadn’t been fed for more than a week, was covered in insect bites and had been dead for two days before her “parents” — and I use the word loosely — even bothered to check on her.
The poor child’s excuse of a mother, Sabrina Hirst, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for manslaughter, probably back out to continue her useless life in five.
The dictionary definition of manslaughter is: “Unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought.”
Begging the question, how in God’s name can the wilful neglect and subsequent starvation of an innocent little girl not be considered pre-planned and malicious?
After all, even the dimmest of people would know that you need to feed a child for them to stay alive, and Hirst seemed to be doing a fine job of stuffing her own face when the urge took her.
Tiffany’s stepfather Robert was equally inactive when it came to her welfare yet received just six years (out in less then three) for child cruelty and neglect.
Which, considering you can get a lot more for embezzling your employer, gives some idea of quite how skewed this country’s priorities have become.
Calling it “about as bad a case of child manslaughter as there can be”, the judge expressed surprise that the Crown Prosecution Service had accepted Sabrina’s plea of guilty to the lesser charge after she had initially been charged with murder.
Quite. It gives out the damaging message that murdering your own child can be plea-bargained on the basis that you didn’t mean to kill them.
That would hold water if you accidentally ran them over while backing out of your front driveway, but wilfully withholding the vital food to keep them alive?
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It’s murder, simple as that.
If a stranger had snatched Tiffany off the street and snuffed out her life, he or she would now be facing a life sentence, and rightly so.
I fail to see how the Hirsts’ actions weren’t treated in the same way.
After all, what possible mitigating circumstances could there be?
If anything, their crime is worse because their deliberate cruelty flies in the face of the passion every decent parent feels when it comes to protecting their child
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