Khyra mother 'in privacy threat'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/west_midlands/8109936.stm

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A woman accused of starving her daughter to death threatened a social worker who looked through her letterbox with legal action, a court has heard.

Ranjit Mann told Birmingham Crown Court she visited the Birmingham home of Khyra Ishaq, seven, in January 2008 after a referral from her school.

She said afterwards Khyra's mother, Angela Gordon, said she had "breached EU law" by invading her privacy.

Ms Gordon, 34, and Junaid Abuhamza, 30, of Handsworth, both deny murder.

Mr Abuhamza, of Leyton Road, has admitted cruelty charges relating to five children in his care.

Ms Gordon, of the same address, denies child cruelty charges, which are alleged to have been committed between December 2007 and 17 May 2008.

Giving evidence on the 11th day of their trial, Mrs Mann said she visited Ms Gordon on 28 January, 2008 following a referral from Khyra's school which she had not attended since December.

'Aggressive' tone

The school was also concerned staff had not managed to contact Ms Gordon, she told the court.

Mrs Mann said: "I just went along to see if I could speak to Ms Gordon and see if I could assist her in any way."

She told the jury she knocked on the door but when there was no answer she looked through the letterbox and through a front window, before leaving her contact details.

The court heard she telephoned Ms Gordon two days later who told her she was "dissatisfied" she had looked into her home.

"She (Ms Gordon) stated in an aggressive manner 'You have invaded my privacy, you are in breach of EU law, I will take you to court'," Mrs Mann told the court.

She said during the call she tried to explain the nature of the visit, but Ms Gordon's tone of voice became more angry and aggressive.

She added: "I did not feel that Ms Gordon was listening to anything that I was saying."

The case continues.