BRANDON Muir was only 23 months old when he died from a ruptured intestine after being viciously assaulted by Robert Cunningham, 23, at the Dundee flat he shared with the toddler's mother, Heather Boyd.
And it was revealed following Cunningham's conviction on a charge of culpable homicide that the toddler had been killed when he was only two days away from a possible decision to remove him from the home he shared with Ms Boyd, a heroin-addicted pros
titute, and the man who killed him.
Brandon died on 16 March last year, only 48 hours before a child protection conference was due to decide on his future care after Dundee City Council social workers raised concerns about the youngster's wellbeing.
Doctors identified at least 40 injuries on his body.
Boyd's mother, Veronica Boyd, said she had called social services on 25 February and told them she was "not happy about the relationship Heather had got herself into".
Senior social work officials have so far refused to reveal how much the authorities knew about the circumstances in which the little boy was living before he met his death at the hands of Cunningham.
But Alan Baird, the authority's social work director, admitted earlier this year: "If further information had been made available to us, then perhaps Brandon might still be alive."
The extent of the information that social work and child protection agencies held about both Cunningham and Ms Boyd, and their care of Brandon, is expected to be the central focus of the independent inquiry
Cunningham said he smacked Brandon on the hand and made him stand against a wall. But evidence from medical experts suggested force had been applied to the child's abdomen which caused his intestine to become crushed against his spine. Ms Boyd, 23, was originally charged with her son's culpable homicide by failing to get him medical help, but was acquitted after the judge ruled there was no case to answer.
Speaking at a press conference in Dundee earlier this year, Mr Baird said: "There was a great deal of information at the trial which was not previously known to the agencies.
"Brandon's death was tragic. He lived in circumstances that we now know were not right for young, vulnerable children. We have to learn so that other children, in Dundee and across Scotland, can be protected in the best way they can be."
