19/09/2005

Jeweller’s killer was not properly supervised

A teenager who was sentenced to life for the killing of jeweller Marion Bates was not properly supervised in the weeks leading up to her death, a report has found.

A Probation Inspectors report found that Peter Williams, 19 had repeatedly breached his curfew order and removed his electronic tag, prior to the attack at the Bates’ family jewellers.

Williams had been released on license from a young offenders institution just 20 days before the murder.

The breach of his curfew should have warranted Williams’ return to custody. The report criticised the private electronic tagging firm, Premier, for failing to inform the Youth Offending Team of the breach and also found that the case manager in charge of Williams’ case had no formal qualifications in youth or social work or probabation.

Mrs Bates, 64, was shot dead as she tried to protect her daughter from armed robbers at the Nottingham shop in September 2003.

Williams helped the gunman to escape from the scene by attacking Mrs Bates’ husband with a crowbar. His accomplice has never been caught.

Williams had been released on license from a young offenders institution just 20 days before the murder.

Premier said that it accepted the findings of the report and had already acted on them, but stressed that the incident had been an isolated case.

Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland said that procedures for dealing with offenders had to be strengthened in order to avoid similar incidents.

However, the Victims of Crime Trust called for the scrapping of electronic tagging. Mrs Bates’ husband, Victor, 66, also said that the report showed that the tagging of young offenders was “a complete waste of time”.

(KMcA/SP)


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