Hospital systems failed an abused baby who was eventually killed by her father, a report has found.

Jessica Randall was only 54 days old when she was murdered in November 2005.

She had been beaten and sexually abused by her father, but despite being seen by 30 health workers she was never registered as being at risk.

After Andrew Randall, 33, was jailed for life in March last year, an inquiry was launched by Northamptonshire's Local SafeGuarding Children Board.

The report has concluded that no individual doctors or health workers were to blame for the failure to register Jessica as a child at risk of abuse - it was the process through which children were reported as being at risk that had failed.

In its conclusions it stated: "At no stage was Jessica Randall recognised as a child at risk and in need of protection. Consequently, those procedures which were designed to protect Jessica Randall were never activated."

This was despite finding that on one occasion a doctor at Kettering General Hospital suspected Jessica was being abused, but never recorded his concerns in her medical notes.

The hospital said it had now trained its 2,000 staff on how to spot cases of child abuse.

Dr Brendan O'Malley, medical director at the hospital, said: "The report was not a whitewash. We looked very carefully at it and we really considered that it was the processes that were remiss. The individuals now know very clearly from training what they need to do in the future."

He added the doctor had investigated Jessica's symptoms with "a range of investigations", including a chest X-ray and an MRI scan and felt his examinations negated his suspicions of child abuse.

"But there was no extensive account in his notes of why he thought there was the possibility of abuse," he said.

"We already had the processes running. The system was there but the problem was that it had not been triggered and the lesson that we have learnt is that we need to raise people's awareness of what has to trigger off referral to making a child at risk."

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children described the case as shocking.

Natalie Cronin, head of policy and public affairs at the NSPCC, said: "The number of babies killed at the hands of their parents or carers has not reduced for 30 years. It is everyone's responsibility to be vigilant to signs of abuse and report any concerns that they have."

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