Father of tragic Poppi Worthington to give evidence at inquest despite fears he will be attacked

A FATHER who allegedly sexually assaulted his 13-month-old daughter just before she died will give evidence at her inquest next week.

Paul Worthington, 49, will come out of hiding for the first time in two years since a judge ruled he sexually assaulted 13-month-old Poppi shortly before her death.

His lawyers asked for him to give evidence via video link, claiming he had received death threats “on a daily basis”.

But he is among 39 witnesses listed to give evidence next week.

Poppi died from internal injuries after collapsing in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in 2012.

A first inquest in 2014 was declared unlawful, while police admitted bungling their inquiry.

The hearing at the town's County Hall is the second inquest into the death of the Barrow-in-Furness youngster - ordered by the High Court after the first in 2014 for "a child aged 13 months" lasted just seven minutes and called no evidence.

Poppi died in December 2012 after she collapsed suddenly at home.

In January 2016, family court judge Mr Justice Peter Jackson ruled that on the balance of probabilities, Mr Worthington assaulted his daughter before her collapse.

But the Crown Prosecution Service later said there was "insufficient evidence" to charge the supermarket worker.

In his fact-finding judgment, Mr Justice Jackson said Cumbria Police had conducted no "real" investigation for nine months, as senior detectives thought a pathologist who examined Poppi's body "may have jumped to conclusions" that the youngster had been abused.

In March, an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) report concluded that senior detectives probing Poppi's death were "unstructured and disorganised", and highlighted the delay into a criminal investigation taking place "despite there being significant suspicious circumstances from the outset".

Meanwhile, a judge in a separate custody case had concluded Worthington sexually assaulted his daughter after watching porn on his laptop.
The new inquest will open on Monday.