A senior coroner has concluded that baby Poppi Worthington was sexually assaulted by her father, just hours before her death.

Poppi died of horrific injuries in 2012. Her story hit the headlines when it was revealed that a serious catalog of failings by social services and police meant that the person responsible for her death would most likely never be charged.

Ministers became so concerned by the case that in 2016, politicians held a meeting in the House of Commons to call for an inquiry into Poppi’s death.

It was widely believed that Poppi’s father inflicted her fatal injuries, which included sexual assault. Two fact-finding judgments by a high court family judge in 2014 and 2016 found that Paul Worthington had abused his daughter shortly before her death.

David Roberts, senior coroner for Cumbria, said that the 13 month old baby had most likely been sexually abused in the early hours of 12th December, 2012. Poppi then suffocated to death.

The Crown Prosecution has received the coroner’s judgment and will be considering the evidence alongside Cumbria’s police force.