AN initial police investigation into the sudden death of Poppi Worthington was entirely flawed from the start and never properly addressed concerns that the little girl had been sexually abused, an inquest has heard.

The senior police officer charged with reviewing the death of baby Poppi Worthington gave evidence on the case today at the formal legal hearing.

Former detective superintendent Cath Thundercloud, who retired from Cumbria police last year, found officers dealing with the case made fundamental failings from the moment they were informed of Poppi's death on December 12, 2012.

Speaking at the inquest held at Kendal's County Hall, Mrs Thundercloud spoke of her findings from a full re-investigation of the circumstances surrounding the case in 2014.

She said Poppi's home in Barrow, where she collapsed on December 12, 2012, should have been secured immediately as "the scene" and the senior investigating officer; former detective inspector Amanda Sadler, should have visited.

Accounts should have been taken from everyone at the property, including Poppi's aunt Tracy Worthington, the two uniformed officers who remained on site, as well as her parents and the medics who treated her at Furness General Hospital.

Sheets from the ambulance which transported Poppi should also have been seized, along with anything used in her resuscitation at A&E, Mrs Thundercloud added, before a full and proper search of her home was carried out.

And the concerns of paediatric consultant Dr Braima that the 13-month-old may have been sexually abused would have been enough on their own to prompt the seizing of electrical items from the home including laptops, videos and mobile phones, she went on to explain.

Instead, senior coroner for Cumbria David Roberts heard that Mrs Sadler never attended Poppi's home address, accounts were not taken and crucial items such as the double bedsheet, last nappy and a laptop used by Paul Worthington to watch pornography were not seized during an uncoordinated search hours later.

Poppi's pyjama bottoms were never found, Mrs Thundercloud said.

"There was no policy file," she went on.

"As reviewing officer I couldn't see what they had done, I couldn't see why they had taken certain decisions, why they didn't do anything for several months.

"It was very difficult to see any rationale for what they did or didn't do.

"They didn't manage the case on any recognised system.

"They used email to record actions or decisions. I've never seen that before, it was not standard practice."

The inquest also heard retired detective superintendent Mike Forrester, who was an accredited senior investigating officer, wanted a second post mortem shortly after receiving initial results of the examination carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Alison Armour.

Dr Armour had warned Poppi may have been a victim of a sexual assault.

The court heard the tot's mother was later told by police officer Dan Chadwick that the post mortem report from Dr Armour "wasn't being taken very seriously" by the investigating team.

Inquiries over whether the little girl had been sexually abused were not considered, Mrs Thundercloud said.

"In this case the main line of inquiry from early on was the possible sexual abuse of Poppi," she told the hearing.

"This was not followed for several months."

Gillian Irving QC, representing Poppi's mother, asked: "Isn't is so that the farrago of failures is so fundamental that it a prosecution was never going to be achievable?"

Paul Clark, counsel to Poppi's father Paul Worthington, described the mishandling of the case as a "litany of failures".

"It's almost impossible to point to anything that was done right in this entire investigation," he added.

An Independent Police Complaints Commission report was highly critical of the police investigation into Poppi's death. The findings were accepted fully by Cumbria Constabulary's chief constable Jerry Graham, who was not in post in 2012. He apologised publicly for the failings last year.

In January 2016, High Court judge Mr Justice Jackson, now Lord Justice Jackson, ruled Poppi's father Paul Worthington had sexually assaulted his daughter shortly before she died - an allegation he has always denied.

The inquest continues.