Awaab Ishak: Home where toddler died is still riddled with mould more than two years later
The home where Awaab Ishak died still has problems with damp and mould more than two years after his “tragic and preventable” death.
A new report into Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) paints a “disturbing picture” of life on the estate where the toddler died after being exposed to extensive mould in his family’s flat.
RBH has confirmed to Sky News that the flat – which is now home to a new tenant – still contains black mould, although it is not as prevalent as when the Ishak family lived there.
The latest investigation into the tragedy found a culture where staff dismissed residents out of hand, believing they knew better.
RBH employees held “prejudices and lazy assumptions” about asylum seekers and refugees, that left them struggling with inadequate – and sometimes dangerous – housing, according to the Housing Ombudsman.
One staff member said when residents complained about the mould and living conditions, a manager told her because “most of the residents are refugees” they “were lucky to have [a] roof over head”.
Awaab Ishak’s home
‘Disgusting’ attitudes on display
Richard Blakeway, from the Housing Ombudsman, said the attitudes on display were “frankly, disgusting”.
While RBH did conduct an independent review following Awaab’s death, this was done entirely by telephone because of the pandemic. It failed to identify the extensive damp and mould – present in 80% of homes – that a subsequent survey in 2022 found throughout the estate.
Of the 380 properties surveyed, 12 were branded as Category 1 hazards.
Two-year-old Awaab Ishak who died in December 2020.
The ombudsman said it is inevitable there are more residents out there living with “serious mould” and RBH has been given a three-month deadline to make progress on the failures outlined in the report.
Yvonne Arrowsmith, RBH Interim Chief Executive, said the organisation was not going to argue with the contents of the report.
Her predecessor, Gareth Swarbrick, was sacked in the wake of Awaab’s death while RBH was stripped of new funding and downgraded to “non-compliant” by the regulator for failing to act.
“We are really sorry to any residents that have not been treated with respect, that haven’t felt their voice has been heard. Because that’s just not acceptable,” she told Sky News.
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The report, she said, was “painful” and “uncomfortable” to read, but was also fairly “balanced”, with the ombudsman recognising where it was attempting to improve.
RBH has visited 5,000 properties since December to check for problems and is doing a 100% stock condition survey this year.
But Ms Arrowsmith denied the organisation is structurally racist, and said: “It was poor customer service”.
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Is Awaab’s death a defining moment for the housing sector?
Awaab’s family wrongly blamed
When mould issues were first reported by Awaab’s family, RBH focussed entirely on how his parents were using the home.
Previously, the inquest heard evidence from staff that the family had a “lifestyle of boiling food in pans on the stove” and assumptions had been made, on the basis of seeing a bucket, that the family practiced ritual bathing.
This assumption was based entirely on a member of staff’s “previous, irrelevant” interactions with other people in the same block of flats.
Awaab Ishak’s home
Mr Blakeway said the initial response by RBH to Awaab’s death was “inadequate” and “simply wrong”.
“There were misplaced views and derogatory comments about the family and the circumstances in which the family found themselves,” he said.
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‘Significant failings’ at RBH
What is Awaab’s law?
The ombudsman also found RBH lost most of its email data in 2020. This destroyed an audit trail for cases wrongly handled by email in the years previously, including that of Awaab’s family.
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Awaab ‘paid price for corporate neglect’
‘They blamed us for breathing too much’
The dismissive language was not restricted to just Awaab’s family either.
One tenant, who lives in a three-bedroom house managed by RBH, told Sky News most of the rooms are “useless” because of damp and mould.
Richard Kalanyos has a small child around Awaab’s age and first complained to his landlord two years ago about the problem.
“The bed has mould everywhere, the walls, around the window area too,” he said.
Richard Kalanyos
“Night or day, there’s always moisture. We heat the rooms a lot, losing money by heating, but it’s just too much.”
He said RBH sent someone to investigate, but they blamed him for having “too many people” in the property.
“They blamed us for breathing too much,” he said.
He continued: “But every day we leave the windows open.
“I was so angry, but what can I do? It was hopeless to try and get help.”
Richard Kalanyos’s home is still covered in damp and mould
‘RBH threw out my parent’s ashes’
Residents were often accused of using mould issues to try and get a bigger property, the ombudsman report found.
In one 2021 case, an RBH staff member admitted there was a “small amount of black mould in the property” but blamed it on the people living there.
In an internal email, sent after the inspection, they wrote: “There are three children and two adults living in the two bed home. So, that is the cause of the problem. Their frustration is that they want a bigger home and cant [sic] get one.”
And problems went even beyond RBH’s inability to deal with mould.
In another instance, a resident was given the wrong end date for her tenancy. RBH realised this but did not contact her to correct it. The woman had partially moved out and when she returned to finish getting her belongings she found the landlord had changed the locks.
They had also thrown away her belongings – including her parent’s ashes.
Mr Blakeway said the ombudsman is seeing “repeated failure” from a number of landlords, but the report should be a wake-up call, both for RBH and the housing sector as a whole.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: “This investigation lays bare the appalling failures by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing that led to Awaab Ishak’s tragic death. It is shocking that such inadequate standards and repeated tenant blaming were long-standing issues.
“This is absolutely unacceptable and I will continue to block government funding from RBH for new homes until it can prove each of its residents has a safe and secure home. New leadership at RBH is an important first step, but there is still much more to do.
“Our Social Housing Bill will hold failing landlords to account and in Awaab’s name, we are introducing a law so that hazards like damp and mould will have to be fixed within set time frames.”
UK
Jury shown CCTV and bodycam footage of brothers allegedly assaulting police at Manchester Airport
CCTV and police bodycam footage allegedly showing three police officers being assaulted at Manchester Airport has been played to jurors.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, are said to have struck out after police were called to the airport on 23 July last year, following Amaaz allegedly headbutting a customer at a Starbucks in Terminal 2.
Minutes later, three police officers approached the defendants at the paystation in the terminal’s car park.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court today watched CCTV footage from opposite angles, which captured what the prosecution says was a “high level of violence” being used by the siblings.
The prosecution says Amaaz resisted as officers tried to move him to arrest him, and Amaad then intervened.
Junior counsel Adam Birkby suggested Amaaz threw 10 punches, including one to the face of PC Lydia Ward, which knocked her to the floor.
His brother Amaad is then said to have aimed six punches at firearms officer PC Zachary Marsden.
Amaaz also allegedly kicked PC Marsden and struck firearms officer PC Ellie Cook twice with his elbow.
He is said to have punched PC Marsden from behind and had a hold of him, before PC Cook discharged her Taser.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (left) and Muhammed Amaad (right) arrive at the court with their lawyer. Pic: PA
The bodycam and CCTV footage, submitted as evidence by the prosecution, allegedly shows the officers’ arrival in the Terminal 2 car park and their attempts to arrest the siblings, as well as their exchanges with them.
PC Ward can be heard saying “Oi, you b*****d” in footage from her bodycam, the prosecution evidence appears to show.
She then appears to fall to the floor and screams.
PC Cook, who is pointing her Taser at one of the defendants, then allegedly says: “Stay on the floor, stay on the floor whatever you do.”
“Get back, get back,” PC Ward appears to say.
The bodycam footage, shown to the jury by the prosecution, shows PC Marsden, who is also pointing his Taser, appear to approach the defendant who is lying on the ground and kick out at him.
Mr Birkby said: “Mr Amaaz, while prone, lifts his head towards the officers. PC Marsden kicks Mr Amaaz around the head area.
“PC Marsden stamps his foot towards the crown of Mr Amaaz’s head area but doesn’t appear to connect with Mr Amaaz.”
Amaaz denies three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to the three police officers and one count of assault to Abdulkareem Ismaeil, the customer at Starbucks.
Amaad denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm to PC Marsden.
UK
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UK
UK farmers have ‘nothing more to give’ as they fear govt will compromise welfare in US-UK trade deal
UK farmers have “nothing more to give” as they fear the government will use agriculture to further reduce US tariffs in a trade deal with the White House.
The UK is trying to reduce steel tariffs to zero, from a current reduced rate of 25%, but Downing Street refused to confirm if it was confident ahead of Donald Trump’s deadline of 9 July.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), said UK agriculture had already been used to reduce Trump-imposed tariffs on cars but any other concessions would have serious repercussions for farmers, food security and the UK’s high animal welfare standards.
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He told Sky News: “It just feels like we, as the agricultural sector, had to shoulder the responsibility to reduce the tariffs on cars from 25%.
“We can’t do it anymore, we have nothing more to give.
“It’s clear the steel quotas and tariffs aren’t sorted yet, so we just want to be very clear with the government: if they’re sitting around the negotiating table – which we understand they are – they can’t expect agriculture to give any more.”
Tom Bradshaw, the head of the NFU, said farmers cannot give any more
‘Massively undermine our standards’
Since 30 June, the US has been able to import 13,000 tonnes of hormone-free British beef without tariffs under a deal made earlier this year, which farmers feel was to reduce the car import levy Mr Trump imposed.
The UK was also given tariff-free access to 1.4bn litres of US ethanol, which farmers say will put the UK’s bioethanol and associated sectors under pressure.
Allowing lower US food standards would “massively undermine our standards” and would mean fewer sales to the European Union where food standards are also high, Mr Bradshaw said.
It would leave British farmers competing on a playing field that is “anything but fair”, he said, because US food can be produced – and sold – much cheaper due to low welfare which could see a big reduction in investment in UK farms, food security and the environment.
Read more:
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Can the UK avoid steel tariffs?
‘The US will push hard for more access’
He said the US narrative has always suggested they want access to British agriculture products “as a start and they’ll negotiate for more”.
“The narrative from the White House on 8 May, when a US-UK trade deal was announced, was all about further access to our agriculture products – it was very different to what our government was saying,” he added.
“So far, the UK has stood firm and upheld our higher welfare standards, but the US will push very hard to have further access.
“No country in the world has proved they can reduce the 10% tariffs further.”
US poultry welfare is lower than the UK, with much more intensive farming that means the meat has to be washed with antimicrobials. Pic: AP
US ‘will target poultry and pork’
The Essex farmer said he expects the US to push “very hard” to get the UK to lower its standards on poultry and pork, specifically.
US poultry is often washed with antimicrobials, including chlorine, in an attempt to wash off high levels of bacteria caused by poor hygiene, antibiotic use and low animal welfare conditions not allowed in UK farming.
US pig rearing methods are also quite different, with intensive farming and the use of feed additive ractopamine legal, with both banned in the UK.
A government spokesperson told Sky News: “We regularly speak to businesses across the UK to understand the impact of tariffs and will only ever act in the national interest.
“Our Plan for Change has delivered a deal which will open up exclusive access for UK beef farmers to the US market for the first time ever and all agricultural imports coming to the UK will have to meet our high SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) standards.”
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