Social Workers Under Scrutiny after ‘Supervised’ Sex offender Abuses Boy

A judge yesterday ordered an inquiry into how a convicted paedophile was able to sexually abuse a 10-year-old child despite social workers being tasked to supervise him. Lord Hardie demanded answers to a series of questions about the handling of the case of James Steele, 28, who carried out an indecent act against the child nine months after he was released from an eight-year jail sentence for sexual offences against two boys. The High Court in Glasgow heard that Steele befriended the boy and his family under the noses of social workers delegated to monitor him while he was out on licence. The case last night sparked fresh concern about the supervision of sex offenders in the community, following a number of high-profile cases in recent years including the murder of the Glasgow schoolboy Mark Cummings by the known paedophile Stuart Leggate, the killing of Fife teenager Karen Dewar by Colyn Evans, a serial offender whom social workers and police failed to monitor adequately, and the abduction and attempted rape in Coatbridge of a two-year-old girl by James Campbell, who had been freed early from jail for another sexual offence.

In the Campbell case, North Lanarkshire Council was criticised by inspectors for failing to make him a priority and not appointing a social worker to him when he was released.

The same social work department was made aware of Steele, although primary responsibility for supervision fell on social workers in neighbouring South Lanarkshire.

Both councils were criticised in a recent inspection report for failing to ensure proper supervision of serious offenders in the community.

Yesterday, after hearing details of the case, Lord Hardie

said he wanted to know the conditions of Steele’s licence, the extent of the supervision order empowering social workers to monitor him, the frequency of contact between him and social workers, and for how long he had been friendly with the victim’s family.

Lord Hardie added: “It would also be valuable to know for how long social workers had been aware of his contact with a child.”

The father knew Steele, who lived in Cambuslang, had served an eight-year sentence, but the paedophile concealed the fact it had been for child-sex offences and told him he had been jailed for a stabbing.

Eventually when social workers found out, they turned up at the child’s home in Motherwell to warn the father not to allow any contact between Steele and his son. But their warning came too late, because Steele had committed the offence in a wood near Coatbridge a few days earlier.

He had befriended the father of the boy while attending an HGV course two months after his release from prison.

In April, Steele was given permission by the boy’s father to take him out on his delivery round in the Motherwell, Bellshill and Coatbridge areas. He drove the boy to a wood where he committed the offence.

A Social Work Inspection Agency report, published in April, found that in just over one in ten cases in North and South Lanarkshire, levels of supervision were “poor”. The content of supervision was also said to be “poor” in one in five cases. The report called for more thorough and consistent risk assessments of offenders.

Stewart Stevenson, the SNP’s deputy justice spokesman, said: “It’s clear that supervision has not been adequate in this case although we don’t yet understand the reasons for that.”

A spokeswoman for South Lanarkshire Council insisted “appropriate action” had been taken in the Steele case.

Mary Fegan, head of social work in North Lanarkshire, said: “Where we have any concerns about the protection of a child, we would work with other relevant agencies and take the appropriate action to protect that child.”