'The danger within': The extensive evasion and coercion that led to dad murdering his 11-year-old son

Michael Harrison murdered his 11-year-old son Mikey in June 2022, lying that he had fallen from a tree while playing hide and seek

“The danger within”: A report has highlighted the red flags, missed opportunities, the lies, extensive coercion and evasive efforts of a father who murdered his 11-year-old son. Michael Harrison, 41, murdered his 11-year-old son, Mikey, in June 2022, having fabricated a story about his child accidentally falling from a tree during hide and seek in Shipley Country Park, when instead he had been beaten to near death at their family home in Heanor, dying in Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham from his injuries.

In May last year, Harrison was sentenced to 21-and-a-half years in prison before being eligible for parole. A Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review from the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership has now detailed the events and the involvement of health and social care professionals in the years that led up to Mikey’s murder.

It found that there were numerous opportunities for intervention or greater oversight and Mikey was not seen by any health or social care professionals for the nineteen months before his death. Mikey’s repeated mistreatment was hidden from watching eyes by Covid-19 lockdown and the parents’ decision to take him out of school and teach him themselves from home.

These were both manipulated to ensure that professionals had as few opportunities as possible to intervene and assist Mikey, but those few opportunities had still arisen in the years leading up to his death. The report concludes: “The death of any child is a tragedy and for a child to die in such a violent way by the person who professed to be protecting them is abhorrent.

“The nature of the abuse of the child in this review demonstrates that parents can disguise what is happening to a child at home and demonstrates how Covid-19 and elective home education could be used as a tool by parents to deliberately evade statutory agencies to keep children hidden from interested professionals and allow child abuse to continue uninterrupted.” The report details: “The abusive nature of the parent’s relationship involved serious coercive controlling behaviours by [the] father which was unknown to professionals during the time period of this review.

“The Covid-19 lockdown was highly significant in this case which is a further example of how parents who want to escape the scrutiny of professionals could use Covid-19 as an opportunity to hide child maltreatment.” Six years before his murder, in 2016, when Mikey was aged five, shortly after starting school, there was a reported incident between him and his father which resulted in the young child being taken to the local emergency department with a “deep laceration to the top of his forehead” which required suturing.

The report details that there was a “conflicting story” between Harrison and Mikey, which led to a safeguarding referral and a child protection medical examination. Mikey told the emergency department staff that “he (father) did it” but Harrison said there had been an accident while Mikey (aged five) had been playing tug of war with his younger sibling (aged two).

This child protection medical examination, for which Harrison was present, concluded that the father’s explanation was valid, but the report found that the presence of the father “may have compromised the procedure”. It said this because best “safeguarding practice suggests that children should not be questioned about any allegation in the presence of their suspected perpetrator”.

The report says the case was closed after a children’s social worker spoke with Mikey at school in the presence of his teacher. It said: “Whilst Mikey confirmed his father’s story there was no way of knowing if Mikey had been ‘groomed’ to provide his father’s version of events or if Mikey’s original allegation had been intended to mean something else.”

The report says this incident shows the need for professionals to listen to the child effectively and protect them from a potential perpetrator who “may then threaten and cajole the child to prevent them from speaking out again”. In 2019, when Mikey was aged eight, he had contracted the skin condition psoriasis which required regular hospital treatment, with Harrison present for every visit.

The report said: “Staff at the hospital became concerned about Harrison’s sad demeanour and father’s harsh responses towards him resulting in liaison with school. Until this point school staff had been unaware of father’s contact with Harrison and had no record of him on their school file.”

It said Harrison had been seen by hospital staff being “unreasonably angry and speaking harshly to (Mikey)” and appeared to have “gone over the top” when staff asked about the situation. A safeguarding referral was made against the wishes of Harrison, who “made threats” about making a complaint in response.

The early help visit included time spent at the house, with a professional finding the parenting style “too restrictive”, with Mikey not allowed chocolate or sweets, not allowed to attend school trips, not allowed to write his surname on his school books, not allowed in school photos, not allowed to take part in clubs, physical activities or school PE lessons and not being allowed to play in the school playground. The report says: “Restrictive routines and boundaries were beyond expected norms and there was an opportunity to explore and consider the nature and impact of these restrictions on the wellbeing of the children with other agencies and professionals beyond school which did not take place.”

Meanwhile, it said the early help home visit took three times longer than planned and that both parents “watched over” the assessor whilst they typed up their notes “insisting that only their exact words were used”. The report details: “On reflection and with the benefit of hindsight the independent reviewer considers that the behaviour of the parents demonstrated a level of intimidation and manipulation which is clearly not in the spirit of partnership working.

“With hindsight it is probable that this was a ploy by the parents (or father) to ensure that the early help assessment was seen in a positive light so as to complete the process as soon as possible in order to close down involvement with the ‘authorities’. ”The report says reviewers can adjourn visits if they feel parents are “trying to intimidate and control proceedings” and that they “may be trying to hide the truth”.

It also found the reviewer did not speak to Mikey during the assessment, saying an opportunity to assess the voice of the child was missed. Following the visit officials requested consent to speak to hospital officials about Mikey’s health needs and this was “firmly denied” with the parents withdrawing from the early help action which resulted in the case being closed.

Harrison’s interactions with teachers, when Mikey was in school, was found to be “negative” and “lack empathy and emotional warmth”, once calling his son a “dirty little thief”, which should have but did not prompt deeper consideration of potential emotional abuse, the report found. At the time of Mikey’s death, he had been out of school (being taught from home during lockdown and electively), for 21 months and moved from Derbyshire to Nottingham and back to Derbyshire, and not seen by health professionals for 19 months.

The report, detailing what was found during the police investigation, outlines that “the defining feature within the family was that of father’s ‘horrendous’ coercive controlling behaviour which dictated every aspect of the lives of the mother and their children." It continues: "Father used the fact that he had sustained life-threatening injuries following a criminally motivated serious assault for drug debt in 2007 as a lever to continue controlling his ex-partner following their separation.

“Father dominated the family by using the rhetoric that they were all in danger from a criminal organised gang when in fact he himself was the danger within.” It found that Mikey and his younger sibling were treated very differently, with his sibling the clear “favourite”.

The report details: “For example, the sibling owned a quad bike, given treats and allowed to go to school whereas Mikey had not been allowed the same privileges and had not been allowed to leave his bedroom or get out of bed until his father arrived at the house in the morning.”

It says: “Firstly, it should be made clear that at no time did any professional working with Mikey and his family suspect that coercive control was a feature within the family. It is only with the benefit of hindsight using information found during the police investigation into Mikey’s death that coercive control has been found to be a significant feature

“The police investigation has found that the impact of father’s coercive and controlling behaviour and narrative of fear resulted in the family shrouding themselves in secrecy and spending no more than two years at one address with several moves around the area between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.” The report found that Harrison was often a “hidden man”, staying off the radar and off records and then taking over and becoming “confrontational, challenging and using verbal threats” once people started to ask about Mikey’s wellbeing.

It details: “There is a lesson here for professionals to be alert to the significance of ‘hidden men’ who manage to stay out of sight until something happens to threaten the status quo resulting in them taking steps to prevent professionals from finding out what is happening at home which seemingly occurred in this case With the benefit of hindsight, this case illustrates the dangerousness of coercive and controlling individuals and the damaging impact they can have on their partner/ex-partner and on their children. Professionals need to remain alert to the personality traits of coercive and controlling individuals, the secretive behaviours of their victims and the possibility of domestic abuse at home.”

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