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Jaden Moodie moved from Nottingham to London with his mum for a “new start”
A boy who was “butchered” in a drugs turf war after being groomed by drug dealers had been arrested in a crack den months earlier but police did not contact child exploitation staff, a report has found.
Jaden Moodie was 14 when he was knocked off his moped and stabbed to death in east London, in January 2019.
A serious case review found chances to protect him were missed by agencies.
Ayoub Majdouline was jailed for his murder.
Three months before his death, Jaden was found with an older boy in a county lines flat in Bournemouth with 39 wraps of crack cocaine, two packets of cocaine, a mobile phone and £325 in cash.
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‘Chances missed’ to protect boy groomed by dealers
According to the review, the appropriate adult who sat in on his police interview said he appeared to be “a vulnerable young person frightened by what he was being groomed and coerced into by others”.
He gave the impression that “he definitely wanted to find a way out of the mess he was getting into,” they said.
Following his release, two Dorset Police officers drove him home to London but did not involve specialist child exploitation workers.
Jaden’s school in Waltham Forest was not told about the arrest but excluded him for a separate incident.
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Jaden pictured wearing his school uniform on his first day in Nottingham
At the time of his death Jaden was living with his grandmother in Leyton.
His mother, Jada Bailey, had been sleeping on friends’ sofas while she waited to be rehoused.
She had told housing officers she was trying to keep her son out of trouble and was keen to find somewhere for them to live in Waltham Forest, the report said.
She was allocated a flat two weeks before Jaden was stabbed to death.
The review found Ms Bailey and Jaden’s housing needs “could have been handled in a timelier manner”, especially as his vulnerability to exploitation became clear.
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The 14-year-old was stabbed to death in Bickley Road, Leyton
Jaden’s father Julian Moodie was convicted of drug dealing in 2009 and deported to Jamaica a year later, when Jaden was a young boy.
He began getting into trouble after starting secondary school in Nottingham in 2015, the report said.
He ran away from home, was accused of bullying and Ms Bailey was threatened at knifepoint when someone came looking for Jaden.
The report said Jaden had only spent three of his last 22 months in school.
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Met Police
Ayoub Majdouline was found guilty of Jaden’s murder by a majority of 11 to one
In November 2018, he was excluded from school in Waltham Forest after he was seen in a Snapchat video in his school uniform holding what appeared to be a gun.
Jaden pleaded guilty in court to possession of an imitation firearm in a public place.
The report highlighted poor communication between Waltham Forest Council’s social services, Dorset Police and the Met Police.
It called for a national system for responding to exploitation of children by county lines gangs, saying that every area needs a “rescue and response” system to protect young people.
