THE parents of tragic Victoria Climbie, giving their closing statements on the final day of the inquiry into her death, have hit out at welfare authorities they believe could have done more to save her.

Their eight-year-old daughter had 128 injuries on her body when she died following months of abuse at the hands of her great aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, and her boyfriend Carl Manning. The pair, aged 44 and 28 respectively, were jailed for life for murder in January last year.

Francis and Berthe Climbe also expressed their anger that a senior doctor accused of failing her has been given a £60,000 hospital post. They called the move by the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 'unacceptable' after consultant child paediatrician Dr Ruby Schwartz landed the full-time position at the Central Middlesex Hospital last month.

While working part-time at the hospital in July 1999, Dr Schwartz diagnosed Victoria's injuries as scabies rather than the result of beatings, leading to her being released back into the care of her killers.

A trust spokeswoman said on Tuesday: "The trust would like to reiterate its confidence in Dr Schwartz. She is a very experienced and well-respected consultant within her speciality."

Earlier in the inquiry the NSPCC spoke of its 'profound regret' of missing a key chance to save the child due to a series of blunders when she was referred to one of its family centres.

"It is clear that we had an opportunity to help Victoria. It is profoundly to our regret that we did not act in a timely, adequate and appropriate way and this opportunity was lost," said a spokeswoman.

The inquiry, chaired by Lord Laming, heard how various agencies, including Brent Council and Brent and Harrow Health Authority during the three months Kouao and Victoria lived in Brent, missed 12 opportunities to save her.

Final submissions were also given by Ealing and Brent councils, Central Middlesex Hospital, North Middlesex Hospital, the Metropolitan Police and a number of other individuals and organisations.

Phase two of the inquiry, looking at measures to prevent a similar tragedy happening again, will begin on March 16.