News

Social workers
Poor judgements made by social workers were revealed during the inquiry, including a decision not to refer to police details of a sexual relationship between Ian Huntley, then 21, and the first of several under-age girls. A fax from a teacher detailing concerns that Huntley was having a sexual relationship with a pair of 15-year-old friends and had given them drugs and alcohol was not passed on to police.

Andrew Cozens, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, hopes Bichard will recommend national standards and a protocol for dealing with cases of under-age sex so they are routinely passed to the police. "At the moment it is too variable and allows too much room for discretion," he says.

But such a system will work only if it is underpinned by a good relationship between the police and social services, which Cozens hopes will be encouraged by the new duty in the Children Bill for agencies to co-operate. Inquiry evidence hinted at a poor relationship between social services and Humberside police, which may have led to inconsistency in dealing with allegations.

Police
Mishandled information about Huntley was caused by flawed information systems used by the police. David Westwood, chief constable of Humberside police, admitted that the first allegation, which Huntley and the girl (known as AB) admitted, should have been recorded. But arrests were not put into the police national computer, only cautions and convictions, and Huntley was not cautioned because AB did not want to prosecute.

Allowing a child to dictate what action is taken is an obvious flaw in the system because in effect it means the law protects the adult rather than the child.

The police refused to comment on what they would like Bichard to recommend. Arguably, police should have the freedom to caution those having sex with a minor, even when it goes against the wishes of the child, in order to protect them. Cozens expects that Bichard will recommend retaining "soft" intelligence so that a pattern of behaviour can be established on people, such as Huntley, who have claims made against them repeatedly but are never cautioned or convicted.

It is a contentious issue but some may say vitally important, especially considering a rape allegation against Huntley was deleted from police files as was the single piece of intelligence on him: a report by PC Michael Harding in 1999 suggesting Huntley was a "serial sex attacker".

Schools
Head teacher of Soham Village College Howard Gilbert did not check Huntley's references before appointing him. Huntley took up his caretaker's post in November 2001 before he had been vetted, even though his predecessor had been dismissed for having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Complacency around recruitment procedures, which Gilbert admitted was a "mistake", was not the only weakness in the education system exposed by Huntley. Despite a 15-year history of interviewing, Gilbert said he had no specific training on how to elicit child protection issues within an interview beyond asking how a candidate would react if a student developed a crush on them.

Kathryn James, head of the professional advice department at the National Association of Headteachers, says: "Child protection is a sensitive area and people are cautious about what they can or cannot ask. More training is needed but there also has to be more effective training. But we need to ask where these trainers are going to come because there is a limited number.

"There has also been a feeling in the past that 'it could not happen here' or 'it's a one-off'. This case has raised awareness in the most awful way but it needs to be addressed for sure. Funding is always an issue for schools but we would like to see a recommendation in the report that every single person working in a school has had child protection training."

To minimise the chance of employing someone who could be a risk to children, James also wants Bichard to recommend enhanced checks for all school staff, instead of the standard checks now applied to non-teaching staff, such as caretakers.

She is less keen on Cozens's suggestion that recruitment methods in schools need to be subject to root and branch reform in the same way as workers in children's homes were as a result of Sir William Utting's report People Like Us. That introduced ways beyond interview to test a person's suitability to working with children.

Cozens argues the "sloppy practice" shown up by the Bichard inquiry proves more sophisticated recruitment methods are needed to prevent people who pose a danger to children slipping through the net. In James's view, the CRB system needs to be given a chance to work to its full potential before something else is introduced.


Criminal Records Bureau
Cozens predicts that Bichard is likely to make recommendations on the scope of the CRB checks and the rigour of its screenings. During the inquiry Maureen Cooper, of recruitment agency Personnel Education Management, revealed that the bureau check was flawed because the addresses supplied by applicants could not be verified. She added the system could also not check for aliases and relied on the "honesty of the individual".

Huntley had taken his mother's name Nixon in 1999 after his parents separated - and information about addresses is vital to the process because it determines which police force is asked to do the checks. Vince Gaskell, chief executive of the CRB, admitted that there was nothing in guidance to say addresses had to be verified.

A new database being piloted in three police forces would resolve the problem. The PLX project is a database with the names and addresses of all people on whom intelligence is held. But Bichard made a plea for urgent action to be taken before the system is implemented nationally in the autumn.

Catalogue of errors

23 June 1995 Parents of a 15-year-old girl, AB, contact social services about her sexual relationship with 21-year-old Huntley but the case is not passed to police.

8 August 1995 Referral made to social services that AB and her younger brother are living with Huntley. A social worker arranges for AB and her 13-year-old brother to stay with him. Case not passed to police.

9-10 August 1995 A joint social services and police investigation is launched. AB and Huntley admit having sexual relations to police, but no action taken because AB does not want to prosecute. No record is made of the allegations because Huntley is not cautioned.

February 1996 Referral made about 15-year-old CD, who was living with Huntley and his father.

March 1996 Huntley makes a referral citing "moral" issues about CD living with him. No action taken by social services.

May 1996 Teacher's concerns that CD and her friend EF have been sleeping with Huntley and he has given them drugs and alcohol not passed to police. Police decide the EF case should be dealt with by social services because she did not want to complain. Then another allegation about a 13 year old is made against Huntley but is marked "no further action" by police because she does not want to complain.

April 1998 Huntley interviewed over the rape of a girl called IJ but later released and no record made because no charges laid.

May-June 1998 Huntley arrested over the rape of KL. Case dropped due to lack of evidence. File created on the police national computer (PNC).

March 1999 File deleted from the PNC, despite guidance saying files on crimes of a sexual nature can be retained for five years.

July-August 1998 Allegation of an indecent assault against 11-year-old MN. Police arrested Huntley and a record was made but the complainant withdrew. No record was made on the PNC because Huntley was not charged but an entry was made on the child protection database.

May 1999 OP reported being raped by Huntley to the police.

July 1999 QR reports being raped by Huntley, who the previous month changed his name to Nixon. Name change not recorded by police. PC Mick Harding links the cases and writes a report saying Huntley is a "repeat sexual offender".

November 2001 Huntley begins work as caretaker at Soham Village College before police checks and job references have been completed and authenticated.

August 2002 Huntley murders Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

December 2003 Huntley given double life sentence for the murder of the girls.