Haringey Borough Council has apologised for failing to prevent a child from becoming a murderer.

Ochaine Williams killed 21-year-old Steven Grisales during an altercation in College Close, Edmonton, in August 2011.

Mr Grisales died from a single stab wound to the chest following a confrontation with Williams, then 15, and other youths which is believed to have started when the group threw conkers at Steven.

Williams was convicted of the murder in May 2012 and jailed for a minimum of 10.5 years. This was later raised to 12 years by the Court of Appeal.

A Serious Case Review by the Haringey & Enfield Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) found that at the time of the murder, Williams, once a pupil at Park View School in West Green Road, Tottenham, was on a “trajectory of violence, offending, disengagement and rootlessness”.

Following the review, published yesterday, Haringey council admitted it should have taken “more robust action” to address the issues facing the boy and said it was “sorry” that it failed in that regard.

The review found that Williams and his siblings grew up in an environment with “astonishing levels of violence” in family life and an “atmosphere of poor nurture, inconsistent parenting and emotional trauma”.

It said the failure by Haringey Children and Young People’s Service to respond to repeated requests for intervention was an “unacceptable level of performance” and put Williams and other children in the family at risk.

It also pointed out that the failure by the children's service to follow safeguarding procedures and to ensure the safety of one of Williams' siblings in March 2011, after he was found to have suffered a large number of non-accidental injuries, put the child at “unacceptable risk and was woefully inadequate and unsafe practice.”

The report noted that a number of the failings identified had been addressed by Haringey in the time since the incident.

A Haringey council spokesman said: “We accept the findings of the review, which makes it clear that we should have taken more robust action both to support the child in this case and to ensure that harmful behaviour was properly addressed, and we are sorry that we failed to do so.

“This case occurred at a time when children’s services in Haringey were not operating as effectively as they should have been. As is made clear in the joint statement from Haringey and Enfield LSCBs, and was recognised in our most recent Ofsted inspection, we have made a number of improvements since this case, which address many of the issues raised. These include additional measures to ensure that the child’s perspective is reflected at the heart of our work and support for families from an earlier stage to prevent difficulties from escalating.

“We are committed to ongoing improvements across all areas of our children’s services, and our new approach will focus directly on reducing delays and improving services further.”

Williams, who maintains his innocence, is now an adult and is serving his prison sentence for the murder.

His mother Sandra Espeut of Vicarage Road, Edmonton, has previously pleaded with people to come forward with fresh evidence relating to the incident as she believes her son is innocent.

Reporting restrictions originally granting Williams anonymity were lifted by the Royal Courts of Justice in October 2012