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31-8-2005 Scotsman Rory's killer: Why did he remain free? By Gethin Chamberlain Chief News Correspondent POLICE and legal officials have been ordered to explain why a suspected sex offender was allowed to remain free to kill schoolboy Rory Blackhall and to stay at large for another week after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, yesterday conceded that a public inquiry may be needed to establish what went wrong and whether anything could have been done to avert the tragedy. A top-level meeting of police and legal officers has been ordered for next week to overhaul the warrant system. Jack McConnell, the First Minister, also admitted that there was a need to tackle both the bureaucracy that led to the delay in issuing a warrant and the subject of how sex offenders were dealt with. Any inquiry would be expected to examine: why it was that a man facing charges relating to the abuse of children over a period of seven years was granted bail; why police who had arrested him on those charges did not then revisit his home when Rory was first reported missing; and why, after he failed to appear in court on 22 August, the warrant for his arrest was not passed to police. Detectives are now certain that Simon Harris, whose body was discovered at his home in Camps Rigg, Livingston, on Sunday, was solely responsible for the murder of Rory. He was awaiting trial on eight charges of molesting three girls aged between two and 11. The Crown Office defended the delay in serving the warrants and the decision not to oppose the granting of bail when Harris first appeared in court on 28 February. But a spokeswoman was unable to explain why it was felt that Harris posed no risk to children, nor why, when he failed to turn up at court, no urgency was shown in issuing a warrant for his arrest. The Crown Office said the week it took to process the warrants was in line with "current best practice". Yesterday, Ms Jamieson claimed that human rights legislation may have prevented Harris being denied bail. She has asked her officials to investigate the handling of the case and is not ruling out a public inquiry. Meanwhile, Mr McConnell promised changes to the way the legal system deals with sex offenders. "The faults, if there are any, could be in many different parts of the system," he said. "But I have no doubt that our laws and our procedures to manage sex offenders in the community ... and a whole range of other areas are in need of updating." Kenny MacAskill, the SNP's justice spokesman, said Harris should have been arrested immediately after failing to appear at court and should not have been released on bail in the first place. Police, facing questions about why they failed to check on Harris despite knowing he was facing sex charges, said criticism of their inquiry was unfair and that they had fielded more than 2,000 calls from the public, along with information generated from their own investigations. Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that the man who freed Harris on bail, Sheriff Martin Edington, had twice before been involved in controversial decisions. In November 2001, he allowed Dougie Macdonald to walk free after he admitted molesting two boys. Mr Edington placed Macdonald, who had been convicted of a similar offence 20 years earlier, on probation, claiming he posed no danger to the public. And in February 2003, Mr Edington also placed on probation a man who smashed bottles over his wife's head.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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