SOCIAL services chiefs did not consider tragic Dillon Hull to be at risk while he lived in Blackburn - even though a judge had warned his mother to protect him from the evil world of drugs.

The murdered five-year-old had never been placed on the child protection register while living in the town.

And social services chiefs in Bolton say they were never warned of any risk to the child when he moved with his mother and stepfather just after Christmas.

Recorder Arthur Noble warned Jane Hull, 29, to protect her child from the drugs underworld when she appeared before Burnley Crown Court last year and admitted she had allowed her home in Walsh Street, Blackburn, to be used for drug dealing.

Police believe Dillon's murder was the result of a drug-related revenge attack.

His stepfather John Bates, who was wounded in the attack, was a known heroin user and had served a jail sentence for drugs offences.

Darwen-born Jane Hull was also a registered user and her second child Codie, born just three weeks ago, is receiving hospital care because of this addiction. A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "This department has had some limited involvement with this family while they lived in the county council area.

"Our preliminary checks on the background in this case do not reveal that this department had any indication of drug problems which was having any direct affect on this child.

"The issues raised in relation to assessment of the family did not indicate any need to have the child's name on the child protection register, or for the department to have any continuing supervisory or oversight role in relation to the child."

The child's headteacher Bill Handforth said Dillon appeared to be well looked after and loved by his mother and stepfather.

The former Longshaw County Junior School pupil moved to Bolton just after Christmas with his mother.

Meanwhile a former deputy head of Greater Manchester drugs squad caused outrage by calling for the legalisation of heroin.

Ron Clarke, whose area covered the patch where Dillon was murdered, has called for the open sale of all substances "from ecstasy to heroin".

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