Early in January it will be 30 years since the death of Maria Colwell, the Brighton girl slain by her stepfather.

The terrible neglect and lack of liaison between the authorities supposed to deal with her shocked the nation. It led to a long-running inquiry which changed the law.

Yet there are still scores of cases every year where children are tortured by adults even though the authorities know something is seriously wrong.

Only this week, the story emerged of Ainlee Labonte, who was tortured and starved to death when only two years old.

In Sussex, there was John Smith who suffered a horrifying series of assaults from his prospective foster parents before he died.

Now Brighton and Hove has its first community nurse consultant in child protection in a bid to make sure fewer cases occur in the future.

Pauline Lambert is employed by South Downs Health NHS Trust and has wide experience as a nurse and health visitor.

With other nurse consultants, she is determined to make sure child protection remains at the top of the agenda of all those dealing with vulnerable youngsters.

Her aim is prevention of more shocking cruelty cases.

In most cases the warning signs are only too clear as cases from Maria Colwell to John Smith have shown. Spotting the early signs and liaising with other authorities should enable Pauline Lambert and her colleagues to make real progress.