The council at the centre of the Victoria Climbie case failed to allocated social workers to 109 vulnerable children, the public inquiry into her death has been told.

Haringey Council in north London did not assign social workers to the children in May 1999, just months before Victoria came into its care.

Several senior workers and councillors were unaware the cases had not been allocated and consequently were unable to do anything about it, the inquiry was told.

Manning will give evidence to the inquiry

Victoria died after months of abuse and torture by her carers - her great-aunt Marie-Therese Kouao and Kouao's boyfriend, Carl Manning.

Kouao, 44, and Manning, 29, were convicted of her murder and jailed for life in January 2001.

At least 12 chances to save Victoria's life were missed despite her regular contact with social services, police and doctors.

Inquiry chairman Lord Laming said the council's failure to allocate children's cases raised a "quite serious" situation, particularly as senior councillors were ignorant of the information.

'Blame'

Senior councillors "do not seem to have worked very effectively," he said.

The head of the council's social services committee, Gina Adamou, told the inquiry that she was "not told that there was this concern" while she was in charge.

She added: "I honestly would say that if there is a problem and as members we are not aware of it can only be because we have not been told.

"In that case the blame will go on the appropriate officer who did not do his or her job."

The hearing has been adjourned until Monday.