Police check system 'should be overhauled'

Calls were made today for an overhaul of the system for checking the backgrounds of people working with children.

As Ian Huntley began two life sentences for the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, there was increasing disbelief that he was able to get a job as a school caretaker despite an extensive history of rape and underage sex allegations.

The failure to identify Huntley as a danger earlier led to fears that other paedophiles with similar backgrounds could also have been missed.

Labour MP Debra Shipley, who introduced the Protection of Children Act 1999, said the vetting system was still “full of holes” and pressed ministers for a thorough review.

Chris Fox, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said he “couldn’t possibly” answer the question of how many other sexual predators like Huntley were in jobs involving children.

He welcomed Home Secretary David Blunkett’s announcement of an inquiry into how Humberside Police handled intelligence on Huntley.

Mr Fox told BBC Breakfast News: “I’m pleased the Home Secretary is going to have this inquiry. I’m not totally sure what’s happened in Humberside.”

He said the checking system still left decisions on releasing information on someone’s background to police.

“I’m afraid the Data Protection Act and data protection commissioners still leave this to the judgment of individual police forces,” he said.

“We want a clear system so that chief constables know precisely what they can do.

“We still have this need to balance the rehabilitation of offenders and the damage to people by scurrilous allegations – teachers are subjected to scurrilous allegations for lots of reasons.

“We can’t just record this and blight their careers. We have to make a judgment.”

Humberside Police, which investigated Huntley over four alleged rapes, an indecent assault on an 11-year-old and unlawful sex with underage girls, has already identified “weaknesses” in its system.

The force said records of its contacts with Huntley were deleted in an attempt to comply with the Data Protection Act.

It also emerged today that police forces have been slow to enter details of arrests and convictions on to the Police National Computer.

The BBC cited a leaked report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, commissioned by the Home Office following the Soham murders.

All convictions should be entered within seven days, but the report said forces such as Humberside enter only half on time, while the Metropolitan Police manage fewer than 5%.

On average, it takes 50 days to update the computer.

Labour MP for Stourbridge Debra Shipley said she had pursued the issue of background checks with ministers but had been repeatedly “brushed off”.

Ms Shipley told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I have gone through my files for the last three years and I have had brush-off after brush-off when I have been pointing out the problems.

“For example, retrospective checking, so those people in employment working with children, accessing children, prior to the Criminal Records Bureau, they are not required to be checked. Of course, that is the vast majority of people.

“I have pushed with every minister that has had this on their desk, and have got nowhere. I have had responses like ’it is not consistent with employment legislation’. That is absurd – ministers should change employment legislation.

“I was very, very aware that the Criminal Records Bureau is full of holes, and the carrying out of checks is full of holes, and I have asked ministers repeatedly to do random checks to see that checks are being made in the first place, and that when they are made, that they are acted upon properly.

“The response that I got back was, and I quote, ’I think it is important to maintain a sense of perspective in all of this’.

“A hell of a lot more needs to be done.”

Lord Mackenzie, a former president of the Police Superintendents Association, said: “There have always been mistakes. Throughout my police experience, police kept records, some better than others. We now have computers of course and there is probably less excuse for making these sort of mistakes.

“Detectives used to carry this information in their heads, and share it where they could. Unfortunately, we don’t tend to do that now, and we are not teaching people the importance of detailed information.

“It makes out the case for having biometric identity cards even more powerfully because here is a man who is obviously hiding his identity.

“And I think we should have a European paedophile register.

“People do object to the police having more powers. But that has got to be balanced, of course, with the public interest. And where children are concerned, that has got to come first.”