Man who murdered adopted daughter was 'Jekyll and Hyde' character

A senior family court judge has described a man convicted of murdering his adoptive baby daughter as a “Jekyll and Hyde character” who appeared calm when others were around but in private could not control himself if the child played up.

In a family court judgment, Mr Justice Moor raised concerns about how injuries that Elsie Scully-Hicks sustained in the months before her father Matthew Scully-Hicks killed her were dealt with by professionals involved in her care.

The judge said the number of serious incidents involving Elsie was “climbing rapidly” but doctors and social workers accepted Scully-Hicks’s explanations. Moor also said he was troubled that a bruise and eye condition Elsie had were not brought to the attention of the adoption court.

However, Moor said Scully-Hicks “presented to the world as eminently suitable to adopt” and the “glowing report” on him and his husband Craig Scully-Hicks meant the court was bound to allow the couple to give Elsie a new home.

It emerged in the judgment that the marriage had broken up and Craig Scully-Hicks believed his former partner had killed their 18-month-old daughter, considering him a “monster”. It was also revealed that Elsie’s birth mother was not told about her daughter’s death for months.

This month Scully-Hicks was jailed for life and told he would serve a minimum of 18 years for murdering Elsie less than two weeks after he and his husband adopted her.

The former fitness instructor, 31, gripped Elsie around the ribcage at the couple’s home in Cardiff, shook her, and may have banged her head against a hard surface.

An independent review will consider whether social workers and health professionals missed chances to protect Elsie.

After the girl’s death in May 2016, council social services bosses with responsibility for the welfare of Elsie’s sibling asked Moor to consider issues in the case at a private family court hearing.

The judge said on Monday his ruling could now be published. Moor said there were two sides to Scully-Hicks, whose violence would have shocked his husband, their friends and social workers.

“I have come to only one conclusion,” the judge said. “Matthew Scully-Hicks is a Jekyll and Hyde character. In private, he was quite unable to control himself when Elsie played up. He was able to cope without difficulty when there were others around.”

Before she was murdered, Elsie sustained several injuries, including bruises to her forehead and a broken leg. She was also taken to hospital after falling down the stairs.

Moor asked in his judgment why a “real shiner” of a bruise to Elsie’s forehead and a squint was not brought to the attention of the adoption court.

Of the supposed fall down the stairs, the judge said: “The number of serious incidents was climbing rapidly, but the doctors at the hospital accepted the explanation and so did the social workers.

“Notwithstanding all these incidents, there remained an unequivocal recommendation to the court that there should be an adoption order. It never crossed the mind of any professional that there was anything untoward.”

The judge said Craig Scully-Hicks accepted that his husband killed Elsie. Giving evidence to the family court hearing, he said they had separated permanently.

Moor explained: “He [Craig] had taken his vows in 2012 very seriously but has removed his wedding ring. He accepted Elsie’s skull fracture was caused by an impact and he accepted the medical evidence. He also accepted the rib fractures and the fracture of the left femur were not accidental.

“He did say, however, that nothing makes him think he should have picked up on it at the time. No concerns were ever raised with him by professionals. The children idolised Matt and he idolised Matt. He said he didn’t know this ‘monster’.”

Moor said Craig Scully-Hicks had not failed Elsie. “I have come to the clear conclusion that I should exonerate Craig of any failure to protect Elsie. There is nothing he could or should have done, but I fear he may find that difficult to accept.”

The judge said Elsie had to be taken from her birth mother. “She [Elsie] was suffering significant harm at the hands of her birth mother, due primarily to her birth mother’s drug addiction.

“I make it absolutely clear that the fact that this was a gay adoption is quite irrelevant. I am absolutely satisfied that sexuality has absolutely no role whatsoever in determining which of a very small minority act in a way that very serious injury and/or death is done to children.”