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The catastrophic breakdown in inter-agency communication that led to a deeply disturbed teenager killing a young boy shortly after being discharged from a specialist unit for young sex offenders, could be repeated at any time, the author of a report into the case warned, writes Mark Hunter.

John Fitzgerald was speaking in Newcastle at the publication of a part 8 review into the care of Dominic McKilligan, convicted in 1999 of murdering 11-year-old Wesley Neailey.

Fitzgerald, who chaired the review panel set up by Bournemouth, Durham and Newcastle Councils, slated the current lack of provision of specialist care for young sex offenders and called for a nationally co-ordinated strategy.

Asked if he thought a similar case could happen again he said: "The short answer is yes. There are over 450 children convicted of sex offences each year. There is no way that placements (at a specialist unit) are going to be found for all 450."

As a result, young sex offenders were often shunted between different care agencies, up and down the country. Their care became fragmented and vital information was often lost within the system.

Fitzgerald outlined how 16 different agencies and over 200 staff had been involved in the care of McKilligan.

First taken into care in 1993 by Dorset social services after allegations of sexual abuse against other children, McKilligan was initially placed with foster carers before being transferred to Collingwood House, a specialist unit in County Durham. Although he remained the legal responsibility of Dorset and later Bournemouth social services, McKilligan stayed at Collingwood until his discharge in September 1997 when he moved to Newcastle.

It was only after McKilligan’s care order ran out in November 1997 that Bournemouth informed Newcastle social services that he was living in the area. Seven months later Wesley Neailey went missing from home. His body was found in July 1998 and McKilligan was charged and convicted of his rape and murder. The rape conviction was later overturned.

The review highlights a number of failures by all three social services departments involved in McKilligan’s care. These include poor recording practices, a failure to plan and implement an appropriate after care programme, withholding of critical information about McKilligan’s previous sexual offences and a lack of discussion across agencies over conflicting assessment reports.

However Fitzgerald stressed that many of the breakdowns in inter-agency relationships could, at least in part, be attributed to the geographical distances involved in the case and the lack of any nationally agreed strategy on how to deal with young sex offenders.

"There are limited numbers of specialist residential facilities for young sex offenders, which is why McKilligan was moved from Bournemouth to Durham," he said. "There is no national strategy and as a consequence there is no consistency in terms of care arrangements, treatment methods or staff training. There’s no single inspection or regulatory system and there’s no geographical consistency."