Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy has been killed from exposure to the mould in his family home in Rochdale.
Gatekeepers News reports that baby Awaab died tragically three years after his parents had complained about the shocking condition of their housing, which was covered in damp mould.
His parents repeatedly begged housing officials and medical professionals to help, but no action was taken to treat and prevent the mould – leaving Awaab with ‘prolonged’ and ‘chronic’ exposure to the substance – due to a communication breakdown, the inquest into his death heard.
The deceased father, Faisal Abdullah, who came to the UK from Sudan as an asylum seeker in 2015, claimed his family felt ‘absolutely trapped’ when the toddler fell ill in their home which was ‘unfit for human habitation’.
Meanwhile, the boss of a housing group which owns the home where the baby was killed has been sacked as a vigil for the boy gathered following outrage over the tragedy.
On Thursday, Gareth Swarbrick said he would not resign over the death of baby Awaab, who was killed from exposure to the mould.
However, he has now been forced out as Chief Executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) following days of public pressure.
The Board of RBH said in a statement, “The Board has taken the decision to remove Gareth Swarbrick from his post as Chief Executive of RBH with immediate effect.
‘We will now work to appoint an external Interim Chief Executive.
“Our original instincts were for Gareth to stay on to see the organisation through this difficult period and to make the necessary changes, but we all recognise that this is no longer tenable.”
