Murderer’s curfew ‘badly supervised’

A catalogue of failures in the youth justice system has been
identified in a report into the killing of a jeweller by a young
offender who was being supervised by Nottingham City youth
offending team.

Peter Williams, who was convicted of the murder of Marian Bates,
was “not managed closely enough” by the Yot following his release
on licence from a detention and training order three weeks before
the crime, the review by HM Inspectorate of Probation finds.

The report criticises Premier, the company contracted to
electronically monitor Williams, for failing to adequately
supervise his curfew.

It also highlights the lack of training given to Williams’s case
manager at the Yot, and that Williams was put on an intensive
supervision and surveillance programme despite having failed to
respond to other programmes.

In revised guidance issued last month, the Youth Justice Board
addressed the suitability of using ISSP in different types of
cases.

Nottingham Yot said it had made mistakes in the case, but pointed
out that the report said its weaknesses at the time were “not
unique” among Yots. Premier said the case was “isolated”.