Victoria Climbie suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of her carers

Angela Mairs said mistakes had been made but partly blamed the long hours and work pressures she had to bear.

Ms Mairs, 45, is in the second day of her appeal against a ban from working with children.

She was sacked for gross misconduct from her job as team leader at Haringey social services after the eight-year-old's death in February 2000.

Giving evidence, she said of Victoria's death: "I think about it all the time. It is something that will never go away from me, not just because it affected me personally and did so much damage to my health as well as my career but also because a child has died."

Under pressure

She told how she wished she had flicked through Victoria's case file, but also said on many days the security guard asked her to leave the building because of her late working hours.

She said: "At the time I don't feel I could have done any better. I am sure lots of mistakes possibly would have been made in these circumstances - the type of pressures that we were under at the time."

She said her team lacked resources and were struggling in a "chaotic" situation where staff had left and new people had come in.

Another social worker, Lisa Arthurworrey, was also sacked for gross misconduct by Haringey Council in November 2002.