Police failures left sex predator to kill twice

POLICE have apologised for failing to prevent a violent and predatory paedophile from sexually assaulting a mother and raping her ten-year-old daughter before murdering them both.

An independent review found “more robust management” of Thomas Smith would have identified his “increasing risk” and, potentially, saved the lives of Diane, 43, and Holly Fallon.

Smith, 28, who had previously been jailed for six months for assaulting a child in England, moved into a flat next to the family in the small Ayrshire village of Cronberry, near Cumnock. The former soldier, who the victims’ family described as “evil personified” tied up his victims, raped Holly and bit Mrs Fallon’s body before strangling them.

The report by Robert Thomson, Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa) co-ordinator at Lothian and Borders Police, highlights a series of failures and missed opportunities.

“In my opinion more robust management of TBS (Thomas Bennie Smith) could have identified the increasing risk,” he said. “I cannot say that it would have prevented the murder of Diane and Holly Fallon, but potentially he may not have been in a position to commit these murders at that point in time.

“There were several missed investigative opportunities that should have resulted in TBS being subject to greater police scrutiny, which may have resulted in a return to custody.”

Mr Thomson made a series of recommendations, including that Strathclyde Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) review and tighten up sex offender management programmes and training of officers.

He also urged the Scottish Government to give police new powers to search sex offenders’ homes and force them to hand over mobile phones, to assist in risk assessments.

Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton, of Strathclyde Police, said “lessons have been learned and major improvements have been made” in the wake of the murders.

He said he had met the victims’ family and apologised personally to them.

The report revealed Smith always denied his previous offence and the author of a social inquiry report, written on his release from prison in September 2006, put his risk of conviction as low, his risk to children as medium, and his risk to the public as low.

“The last paragraph of the report lays great stress on TBS’s exemplary behaviour to date, and his very positive character references, but makes no reference to the fact he has just been convicted of a sexual offence against a child,” Mr Thomson said.

Despite this, Strathclyde Police did consider Smith to be “high risk”, but this was not reflected in their scrutiny of his movements.

Crucially, no risk assessment of his new address was carried out when Smith moved to Cronberry in February 2008.