WINNIPEG - The public will have to wait until the new year to hear recommendations from one of the most expensive inquiries in Manitoba's history.

For almost two years, the inquiry examined the death of a five-year-old girl who bounced in and out of foster care before she was murdered by her mother and stepfather.

Commissioner Ted Hughes heard how Phoenix Sinclair slipped through cracks in child welfare and how her death at the hands of her guardians went undiscovered for months.

Hughes is to deliver his final report to the government on Dec. 15.

But a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Andrew Swan says the department will give the government time to digest the report and its recommendations.

The inquiry heard from 126 witnesses and is estimated to have cost at least $10 million.