Rapist release 'not matter for inquest'

AN INQUEST jury has been told it must decide if authorities' actions contributed to a woman's death at the hands of a Scottish sex offender who had been released on licence from prison.

But coroner Grahame Short told the hearing into the killing of Naomi Bryant by Anthony Rice that the question of whether the rapist should have been released in the first place would not be part of the proceedings. However, he said the jury had to decide if "failings of the state contributed to Naomi's death".

The inquest, which is likely to take up to six weeks, will look at issues such as the role of the probation service. Dundee-born Rice, 54, is serving life after admitting strangling and stabbing Ms Bryant, 40, in Winchester, Hampshire, in 2005. At the time, he was under the supervision of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements - a state framework to manage violent offenders.