Council launches inquiry into paedophile housing blunder

Birmingham council has launched an inquiry into how a convicted
paedophile came to be housed next door to a children’s home
and later abducted a 13-year-old boy, writes Sally
Gillen.

Social services announced the inquiry after Patrick Marsh was
sentenced to four and a half years at Birmingham crown court last
week for taking the child, who was in the council’s
care.

Deputy leader councillor John Hemming said: “This is a very
serious situation. I have been concerned about the city council
allocating [dangerous] people housing in a number of inappropriate
locations and wish to see a full investigation into why this
happened.”

Hemming added that he had also intervened in case involving a
person with a history of drugs offences who had been placed in a
sheltered housing scheme for older people and had been become
involved in a brawl with fellow residents, the aftermath of which
had taken six months to resolve.

Marsh was placed in council accommodation in 2001 via a
multi-agency public protection panel, which is made up of the
police, probation service, housing social care and education.

In 2002 the Housing Department created a specialist post to better
coordinate and create more robust procedures relating to the
allocation of housing to high risk offenders in the community.