'Alarm bells' were ringing at the school 'Cinderella girl' Amber Peat attended, but social services failed to act, an inquest heard.
Concerns about Amber, who was found hanged in a hedgerow after she ran away from home following a row with her parents over chores, were called in to a safeguarding team, Nottingham County Council's Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), by Amber's former Vice Principal.
Amber had raised concerns with her teachers and claimed that she had been forced to wash every pot in her home.
On the seventh day of the hearing Vice Principal Karen Green said Amber and her family had moved around quite a bit, but said that once people started to work with them, they would move on.
When referring Amber to the council's safeguarding unit she said: 'This one is ringing alarm bells. It just does not feel right. My gut instinct is there is something not right here and I can't put my finger on it.'
Amber Peat (left) was not allowed to talk about the 'big secret' that her stepfather Daniel Peat (right) had been jailed for tax fraud
Amber's mother Kelly Peat (pictured above) attended the inquest at Nottingham Coroners Court today
The teacher added Amber had mentioned a 'big secret' at home she wasn't allowed to talk about – which turned out to be her stepfather had been jailed for tax fraud – and that she had been subjected to the pot washing punishment.
In 2014 Daniel Peat was jailed for 16 months over a £120,000 tax fraud. He and an accomplice admitted attempting to falsely claim more than £200,000 in tax rebates.
Derby Crown Court had previously heard that Mr Peat was the instigator and received £78,000 from the scam.
Amber Peat, 13, from Mansfield was not found hanged for 72 hours despite going missing in the early evening of May 30
The inquest heard that a second call to the team listed a series of alleged incidents reported by Amber to her form tutor that had happened at home, one of which was a claim her stepfather had woken the schoolgirl at 11.30pm and made her clean the floor of their house.
However on neither occasion was Amber's case escalated to the level of formal social care involvement – causing coroner Laurinda Bower to say she was 'concerned' about how the system operated.
Amber's body was discovered in June 2015, three days after she walked out of the home in Mansfield that she shared with mother Kelly, stepfather Danny, and two younger siblings.
The inquest into her death, which is being held in Nottingham, has earlier been told her parents waited almost eight hours before they finally reported her missing in the early hours of the morning.
The family did not report Amber missing until they had 'been to Tesco and had their tea'. Pictured above the missing poster which was put up once it had been reported that Amber was missing
Ms Bower was told two calls were made from Queen Elizabeth School in
