AN INDEPENDENT review has severely criticised Isle of Wight NHS and social services over the care they provided for two severely disabled brothers who were smothered to death by their mother.

Experts ruled the agencies did not fail in their duty to protect Robbie and Richie Turnbull but said aspects of the care the family received could have been better.

They also rapped the authorities over poor communication and lack of training.

The family has angrily described the report as "a sanitised version of events".

Robbie, 23, and Richie Turnbull, 20, who both suffered from a string of conditions including cerebral palsy, died in October 1999 after their desperate mother Melody gave them pain killers and smothered them at their home in Bembridge.

She and her husband Ron had devoted their lives to their sons - even rising throughout the night to turn them in their beds - but felt severely let down by the NHS and social services.

After she suffocated her children Melody, a mother-of-four, called the police, was arrested and spent six weeks at Holloway Prison before being given bail.

Ron, her husband of 35 years, visited her every day she was in jail. A year ago the 53-year-old walked from court on probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

An inquest in February this year recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.

The inquiry - conducted by the Community Care Development Centre at King's College, London - praised the NHS and social services for some aspects of their provision for the Turnbulls.

But it was also deeply critical, saying the "real sense of the two young men" had been lost amongst official red tape.

Experts set out a series of recommendations to organisations on improving services for people with severe physical and learning disabilities.

Charles Waddicor, director of Isle of Wight social services, admitted: "Communications could have been better. We should have involved Mr and Mrs Turnbull more completely in the care planning of their sons. And we should have done some things more quickly and speedily than we did."

Speaking from his new home in Kent, however, Mr Turnbull was scathing of the findings.

He said: "The report is a sanitised version of events, short on specifics, liberally embellished by untruths, selective omissions and subjective speculation, taking no account of documented evidence volunteered by myself to the inquiry team, which they declined to see."

High Court judge Mr Justice Turner told Melody Turnbull when he sentenced her a year ago he wanted an inquiry into the way she had been treated.

He said: "It's a matter of concern to me that there may be a number of agencies and individuals who, in the light of information placed before the court today, might well examine their consciences to see if they did any more than the minimum statutory requirement for people such as you and your husband."

An internal inquiry took place on the Island before the Winchester Crown Court hearing but the results were kept under wraps.

The independent review was only launched this spring - seven months after the High Court judge's direction - shortly after Ron Turnbull broke his silence and opened his heart to the Daily Echo about the family's nightmare.

He told how he and Melody cared for the boys, without a single day's break from the days they were born.

They moved around the country, coming to the Isle of Wight to live near family the year before the boys' deaths.

Ron said of the country's social services: "They will use any trick in the book to deprive the most profoundly handicapped in the community from having access to their true needs. I believe the policy is to do it as cheaply as possible.

"There's no doubt about it - we are both serving a life sentence. Life is without any meaning for us.

"From the moment of their births, Melody had given herself so completely to loving, protecting and serving their every need, never at any time considering herself."

Ron said of his sons: "They each had their own uniquely unforgettable aroma and an endearing sweetness and beauty beyond any words. That is my abiding memory of them."