BBC News, Liverpool
Greater ManchesterPolice failures and working charge pressures left a free sexual seal predator to snatch a six -year -old girl from the streets, according to the BBC.
Lewis Jones, then 23, submitted his young victim to a violent and prolonged sexual assault in Woodland in Manchester on August 17, 2022 before he was disturbed by the screams of his family and neighbors.
The Merseyside Police had been investigating Jones, from Liverpool, since 2020 for preparing and abusing a child vulnerable by pretending that he was 14 years old.
An internal police review, regarded by the BBC through a request for freedom of information, detailed a catalog of errors that left the previous case to the drift of 18 Monh without “supervision supervision.”
The Merseyside Police said that he had referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IAPC), which concluded that no individual officer had a case to respond for misconduct.
But the force said it had “identified learning” and detailed several changes in the way in which investigations on sexual crimes are supervised and administered.
GMPThe review was caused in April 2023 after Jones, who admitted both crime games, was sentenced in the Crown of Manchester to life imprisonment with a minimum mandate or 12 years.
Judge Hilary Manley told the Court that the case of Merseside was an “atrocious example” how police delays in prosecution of criminals can leave them free to attack again.
“This defendant, if they accused him when he should have a leg, he would not have his leg free to kidnap this six -year -old girl,” he explained.
“Those are the cold facts of the case.”
In response to these criticisms, the Merseyside police announced that a review would be carried out and “personally supervised” by the assistant police chief Mark Kameen, who since then retired.
A copy of that review, directed by DET SUST Steve Reardon, showed how the unity of strength and protection of teams of vulnerable people (PVP), who specialize in investigating rape and sexual crimes, were affected by personnel pressures throughout the force.
The review said that Jones was first arrested on June 15, 2020 after a missing vulnerable girl from the Cheshire area had reported that meeting with a much older man at the Liverpool South Parkway train station.
It was later learned that Jones, who was 21 years old, had fun to be 14 years old and prepared it to believe he was in a relationship, which became sexual.
After being tasks in custody and interviewee, he was released under investigation the next day, which means that he was not bound by any bail condition.
More than two years later, the investigation had not concluded not having been.
Jones grabbed the six -year -old girl and ran with her while playing with her cousins in the Dollysden Manchester area.
The revision found that a detective agent who led the investigation of Merseyside Brooming had remained in the file even when they were transferred outside the PVP team to help another unit with their workload.
This meant that little progress was made in the collection and review of evidence, including conversations on social networks and telephone data.
In addition, another hero of the detective agent in the case of a period in which they touch a temporary promotion to the detective sergeant.
His additional workload reduced the time they had available to work in the case.
When that detective assured a permanent promotion, the case to a more junior detective was assigned due to the workload of the team, which resulted in more delays.
None of the problems was marked to Senior detectives due to a problem with the police databases used to trace open investigations.
The review said the case should be marked at 16, 32 and 48 weeks respectively to a detective inspector, a detective chief inspector and a detective superintendent.
This did not happen due to a problem with the identification of the officer in charge of the case (OIC) in a police system called Niche.
Recognized in CCTV
Meanwhile, Jones had moved to Manchester with his father.
He spent the morning of August 17, 2022 wandering through the Droylsden attack area.
He took secret photos of local children playing, including his possible victim.
After grabbing the girl, he put his hand in his mouth to cushion his shouts with enough force to knock out a tooth.
He threatened that if she didn’t get quiet, “she would not see her parents again.”
After sexual assaulting the girl, he came out calmly from the area and only the rest of the day sending intimate photos of himself to a bride.
Jones was recognized by his father in CCTV images distributed by the Greater Manchester police after the attack, and task at a police station.
In his comments of judgment, the judge described how the girl had signs of deep trauma, even not being able to sleep alone and refuse to play.
‘Dedicated teams’
The Merseyside police told the BBC that he had made extensive changes after the review.
A force spokesman said: “Now we review all cases of rape and sexual crime within the United and PVP teams to ensure that the correct ILOs are clearly identified.
“We identify learning in relation to cases of rape and sexual crime that are transferred from the unit and PVP teams when personnel members are transferred outside the department.
“We have sprayed all relevant cases for real, according to the department.
“More personal has been recruited to support the workers in the long term and improve the punctuality of research that undergo collection advice.”
The force said that two new dedicated teams had also established to help accelerate investigations in sexual crimes.
One, known as the Gatekeeper team, aims to improve the quality of the past files at the Service of the Prosecutor’s Office (CPS) for a collection decision.
This is designed to reduce the possibility that prosecution lawyers request more evidence.
The other, the Children’s Sexual and Criminal Exploitation Team (CCSET), aims to increase the approach in cases of toilet.
