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

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

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. 

The review highlights a number of failures by all three social services departments involved in McKilligan’s care - Dorset, Bournemouth and Newcastle.

These include poor recording practices, a failure to plan and implement an appropriate aftercare programme, withholding of critical information about McKilligan’s previous sexual offences, and a lack of inter-agency discussion 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 a limited number 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.”

- Childhood Lost by The Bridge Child Care Development Service on behalf of the area child protection committees of Bournemouth, Durham and Newcastle, 2001

Do you think there are shortfalls in treatment services for young sex offenders? Would a national strategy help deal with the shortfall? To ‘Have your say’ and join the online discussion forum e-mail us at comcare.haveyoursay@rbi.co.uk