Killer was 'freed after failures'

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A psychopathic child killer was freed and allowed to live in a bail hostel because of a series of failings by officials, a report has concluded.

The Chief Inspector of Probation's report said the public was placed in a "position of avoidable risk".

Paedophile Frank Parker was freed without proper testing for psychopathic tendencies, the investigation said.

The inquiry came after a BBC Panorama programme in November which showed failings in the bail hostel system.

'Sexual element'

Chief Inspector of Probation Andrew Bridges' report said that, while the probation service cannot be expected to eliminate all the risk posed by offenders when they are living in the community, Parker's case had been poorly managed.

He criticised the fact that an assessment report written by a probation officer in 2004, a year before the end of Parker's jail sentence for the murder of a 10-year-old neighbour, did not even mention the crime's sexual motive.

In our view the risk of harm posed by K was always high Chief Inspector of Probation's report

It said: "Worryingly, in the description of his offending she cited his motivation to offend as having been his decision to burgle the house and missed out the sexual element of the offence.

"There was no mention made of the use of weapons, nor of his previous conviction for arson.

"She assessed his risk of harm as medium."

'Assessment poor'

The report noted there were more mistakes and oversights after Parker, referred to as Resident K, had been released to live in a Bristol bail hostel.

It said: "The assessment and management of this case by all involved was poor.

"There was evidence of his offender manager, her manager and hostel staff being manipulated by K."

The report added: "In our view the risk of harm posed by K was always high."

It also criticised the probation service in Avon and Somerset which had risked cutting staff to "unsafe levels".

'Difficult work'

Parker murdered the young girl using a knife and an iron in 1966.

In two other cases where murders were committed by freed offenders the incidents could not have been predicted or prevented by staff, the report said.

Mr Bridges said: "The programme showed how challenging it can be for staff to do the difficult work we described earlier, and we do not criticise staff for failing to achieve the impossible.

"But in the main, we have found staff to be working hard and conscientiously and to good effect, and achieving what is possible."

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said staff do an extremely difficult job.

"If the residents are committed to genuinely wanting to reform that's fine, but if they're not then inevitably they'll go back inside," he said.