Review finds IT system flaw contributed to police failure to protect girl from rapist

A review has determined that a sex offender, who assaulted a schoolgirl while awaiting trial for a separate rape charge, was inadequately supervised by law enforcement due to issues with a computer system. Kofi Taylor, aged 48, was identified as a high-risk individual by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) at the time he repeatedly raped the 15-year-old victim at her residence in Trafford, Greater Manchester, in August 2021. According to a serious case review, the effective monitoring of Taylor was “undermined” by the implementation of GMP’s contentious iOPs IT system and made worse by officers managing heavy caseloads. The police force stated it “wholeheartedly apologised” to the victim and her family for “failing to protect her”. The review, conducted by the Trafford Strategic Safeguarding Partnership, disclosed that in April 2021, four months prior to Taylor’s assault on the teenager, he had faced charges for raping another woman in Greater Manchester. While awaiting trial, he subsequently violated his bail conditions on four occasions; however, the report indicated that despite these breaches being recorded on iOPS, “system errors” caused them to be linked to a duplicate entry. Consequently, officers within the Sex Offender Management Unit could not view these log entries and therefore did not investigate or intervene. Taylor proceeded to repeatedly rape the teenager in an assault that detectives subsequently characterized as “shocking and deplorable”. Maggie Oliver, a former GMP detective, commented: “This man has clearly been a risk for many, many years, so why was it not dealt with properly?” Ms. Oliver resigned in 2012 due to the inadequate management of extensive child sexual abuse cases in Rochdale, subsequently founding an organization dedicated to supporting victims. She further stated, “I believe this family will feel very let down that this man – this rapist – was already recognised as a dangerous individual who posed a serial risk to the community.” She mentioned it was “very well known” that iOPS was regarded as “unfit for purpose” by active police officers during that period. She added, “My understanding is that there still are risks with it and this case clearly shows a very serious risk.” Ms. Oliver also expressed her belief that Kofi Taylor’s case was probably not a “unique or rare exception”. She concluded, “These failures could easily happen many more times and actually, could have already.” The review indicated that substantial caseloads within GMP’s Sex Offender Management Unit had played a role in a “lack of effective oversight” by police personnel. Prior to his relocation to Greater Manchester in August 2019, Taylor had served a 10-year prison sentence for raping a man. The report stated that despite being categorized by a previous police force as posing a high risk of re-offending, he was never visited by his assigned offender manager at GMP. It further revealed that the sergeant responsible at that time would have been tasked with supervising approximately 1,000 offenders, whereas “a maximum of 200 would be reasonable”. Lisa Longstaff, from the Women Against Rape campaign group, described the case as “appalling” and highlighted how police forces failed to “properly prioritise” violence against women and children. She remarked, “It really does tell the public that if you’re a woman or a child, your life and safety isn’t worth much to them.” “It’s not an accident that when it comes to violence against women and children, we’re often told the police are overloaded” “They don’t have the resources they need or there’s some computer glitch that has stopped them doing their job properly.” In March, Taylor admitted guilt to four charges of rape of a female under 16 and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence. He received a life sentence, with a minimum term of 11 years and four months. The safeguarding review determined that it was not “certain the rape would have been prevented” had appropriate checks been conducted on Taylor, but it did identify missed opportunities for “protective action to be taken”. GMP stated that its Sex Offender Management Unit has doubled in size since these failures and is “working tirelessly” to implement improvements. Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parker commented: “We’ve made significant strides to eliminate the risk of this happening again with ongoing upgrades to our records management system to improve its effectiveness and usability.“ We have continued to offer the victim support alongside specialist partners but know nothing will undo the trauma the girl and her family have endured.“ We are committed to driving improvements and working with partners to ensure the public can have growing confidence we will protect them from dangerous offenders like Taylor.” GMP declared in March 2022 its intention to replace a portion of the £60m iOPS system, though the completion date for this change is still uncertain. An inquiry by the Independent Office for Police Conduct concluded that the conduct of two police officers involved in the incident “fell below the expected standard” but did not advise disciplinary action. This case has brought to light worries regarding the escalating pressure on police units tasked with supervising registered sex offenders. Statistics revealed that as of the end of March 2024, there were 70,052 registered sex offenders in England and Wales, marking a 52% rise since 2014. Mick Creedon, former Derbyshire Chief Constable, stated that the quantity of offenders requiring supervision was “huge” and would “keep on growing”. In 2023, Mr. Creedon released an independent review examining police monitoring of sex offenders in the community, advocating for increased attention on the most dangerous criminals. He noted that only a “small cohort” posed a very high risk, and “those are the ones we should concentrate effort and resource on”. He further commented, “The volume [of offenders] and the bureaucracy can swamp resources so much that they’re not able to concentrate on the high-risk ones.” The Home Office declared violence against women and girls a “national emergency” and affirmed that the government had made “several commitments to transform the criminal justice response to sexual violence”.