 Toni-Ann had been attending Slade School in Edgbaston |
For a seven-year-old girl who spent much of her life thousands of miles away from her father, a few days in his company was all she longed for. Toni-Ann Byfield looked forward to her weekend visits to Bertram Byfield but little did she know her wish to be with the man she thought was her father would lead to such a violent end.
The schoolgirl was in the care of social services when she was killed in a gangland shooting while staying with Mr Byfield, a convicted drug dealer.
Toni-Ann, a ward of court known to social services in Birmingham, was a "bright, lively girl" preparing to start primary school in the city.
Her death on 14 September 2003 came less than a year after an inquiry into the murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie recommended better co-operation and vigilance between agencies dealing with children.
Police were called to a bedsit in Kensal Green, north west London, just after midnight when neighbours reported hearing shots and a scream.
They found the girl and Mr Byfield, 41, still alive but both died before they reached hospital.
It is believed Toni-Ann was shot in the back as she ran away after witnessing her father's murder.
Her death became the first of a child which Operation Trident, which deals with gun crime in London's black community, had been asked to investigate.
Mystery still surrounds the double killing but detectives have looked at the possibility that Bertram Byfield was killed over a drugs debt.
DNA testing in post-mortem examinations revealed that Mr Byfield was not the biological father of Toni-Ann.
The 41-year-old known also as Tony, was born in Beckenham, London, but had grown up in Jamaica.
He returned to Britain 11 years ago, serving a nine-year jail sentence for dealing crack cocaine in 1997.
He had been living in Harrow Road for two years when the shooting took place.
In 2003 Mr Byfield was shot six times but survived the attack.
Toni-Ann had been raised in Jamaica but arrived in the UK in June 2000 to stay with relatives in Birmingham.
The girl had been in the care of the city's social workers since November 2000 but was often allowed to visit her father at weekends.
Following her death a review of the management of her care was ordered.
Peter Hay, strategic director of social care and health at Birmingham City Council, admitted that agreeing to her wishes to stay with someone who was thought to be a relative had put her at risk.
He said: "Toni-Ann made it very clear that she had a strong relationship with her father and wanted contact with him.
"This exposed Toni-Ann to risks related to her father's criminality."
Interpol traced Toni-Ann's mother, Roselyn Christine Richards, in Jamaica and told her of her daughter's death.
She made an appeal for help to catch the killer: "I keep on asking what a seven-year-old girl could do to someone for that horrible death. She don't deserve it."
She was one of the 200 mourners who attended Toni-Ann's funeral at the New Testament Church of God in Birmingham.
Four people have been arrested and released on bail following the murders but no one had been charged.
A �20,000 reward is still being offered for information leading to the identification and arrest.
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Toni-Ann made it very clear that she had a strong relationship with her father and wanted contact with him 
