Don't blame me, says dad who abandoned sad little Sunflower

THE father of 12-year-old Charlotte Collett, who starved to death weighing just three-and-a-half stone, last night blamed everyone but himself for her tragic loss.

Van driver Ron Collett, 62, abandoned Charlotte and her mum eight years ago and has had no contact with her since.

In fact, he was so absent from Charlotte's life that the first he heard of her death was on a TV news bulletin.

Left with her agoraphobic mother Katrina, Charlotte was allowed to waste away to barely half the weight of a healthy normal child her age.

Neighbours nicknamed her "Sunflower" because she was so thin she looked like she would bend in the wind.

And by the time Katrina, who has five other girls by three different fathers, called for help, it was too late - and Charlotte was certified dead on arrival at hospital.

Yesterday, Ron was furious at "the system" for letting Charlotte down.

At his scruffy flat in Reading, 80 miles from Charlotte's Isle of Wight home, he said: "Somebody should be made to pay for this. Social services should have done something. So should teachers at the school and the police.

"If I had been on the scene, things would have been different as I would have seen what was going on."

And he added: "But I don't blame myself. Would I blame my parents if something happened to me? No, I wouldn't. That's life. But I loved that little girl."

Family breakdowns were part of Charlotte's short life.

Mum Katrina was 20 when she married first husband Chris Lewis in 1975. They had daughters Amy, now 24, Lucy, 23, and Hayley, 20.

But after Hayley's birth, Katrina and Chris split up.

Then, Katrina began an affair with a neighbour 15 years younger than her, the adult son of Ron Collett - Ronnie Jnr.

That relationship produced Charlotte's half-sister Terri, 17, before it just fizzled out.

Afterwards, Ronnie's father Ron came on the scene and began an affair with Katrina.

She and Ron Snr married in 1984. Charlotte was born in 1991 and a sister Jodie followed a year later. Then, in 1993, Ron and Katrina split - leaving her to cope with the six girls. Katrina took the girls to move in with her own father while Ron met a new partner Alison and set up home with her and her daughter Alana.

He says he tried to stay in touch with Katrina, Charlotte and the girls, but claims Alison stopped him. She gave birth to two sons - Jake, now eight and Brett, seven. But Ron and Alison, 40, split a year ago. He is banned from seeing his sons because he hasn't paid maintenance.

Now the Child Support Agency has imposed an attachment of earnings order to confiscate part of Ron's salary at source. Charlotte's health problems had begun after Katrina withdrew her from the Archbishop King School, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, telling staff she was being bullied.

Every day, she and Jodie arrived at school by taxi. Playground gossip suggested this was due to Charlotte's mum being "a bit weird" and she never left the house because of her phobias

Every week she had bags of shopping delivered by van from food store Iceland.

Charlotte and Jodie's bedroom was bare, without posters, toys or kids' clutter. Yet teachers were not alarmed by the decision to withdraw Charlotte. An education spokesman said: "It's not unusual for children to be withdrawn from school."

By law, local councils must make checks on tuition given to home- taught children. But no one checked on Charlotte.

Had inspectors called, they would have noticed her deteriorating health. Yesterday, a council spokesman said: "A visit would have been made in due course."

Meanwhile, baffled police are asking, if food was being delivered, why wasn't Charlotte eating? Either she was starving herself - or her mother was starving her.

Since Charlotte's death, Katrina has had a nervous breakdown and has been detained under the Mental Health Act.

With two of her eldest daughters, Hayley and Amy, living away, she was relying for help on Lucy, 23, herself a single mum with an 18- month-old son to care for.

Meanwhile, Hayley and Amy are mystified about their half-sister's death.

Hayley said yesterday: "There's no way my mum starved Charlotte to death."

Speaking to a friend she said: "All I can think is that Charlotte was anorexic and she was bullied at school."

Hayley fears her mother was unable to cope with Charlotte's eating disorder and was too scared of the outside world to seek help.

Former family friends Linda and Martin Stewart, who lived next door, agree.

The two households were close until the Colletts' rented home was put up for sale and the family were rehoused from East Cowes to a new street in Newport in February.

Linda, 51, says: "Things just seemed to go downhill for them as soon as they moved. I think Charlotte would still be alive if they hadn't gone.

"Because of her condition, Katrina relied on her neighbours for favours and odd jobs. But down at the new house she wouldn't have known anyone and maybe she just didn't know where to turn for help."

In different circumstances, she might have had a partner to help shoulder the burden. But Katrina has no one - certainly not Charlotte's father.

"Didn't Katrina have anyone else?" Ron asked casually.

"The authorities aren't telling me anything. I'm entitled to answers. I've been treated very badly, you know."

Copyright 2002 MGN LTD
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