IT flaw saw police fail to protect girl from rapist

Kofi Taylor was officially declared a high risk offender but opportunities were missed to monitor him

A sex offender who attacked a schoolgirl while awaiting trial for rape was not properly monitored by police because of problems with a computer system, a review has found.

Kofi Taylor, 48, was recognised as high-risk by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) when he repeatedly raped the 15-year-old at her home in Trafford, Greater Manchester, in August 2021.

A serious case review has found effective tracking of Taylor was "undermined" by the introduction of GMP’s controversial iOPs IT system and exacerbated by officers dealing with high caseloads.

The force said it "wholeheartedly apologised" to the victim and her family for "failing to protect her".

The review, by the Trafford Strategic Safeguarding Partnership, revealed how in April 2021, four months before Taylor attacked the teenager, he had been charged with raping another woman in Greater Manchester.

He went on to break his bail conditions four times while awaiting trial, but the report found that although the breaches had been logged on to iOPS, "system errors" meant they were attached to a duplicate record.

As a result, officers in the Sex Offender Management Unit were unable to see the log entries and failed to investigate or take action.

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Taylor went on to repeatedly rape the teenager in an attack detectives later described as "shocking and deplorable".

Former GMP detective Maggie Oliver said: "This man has clearly been a risk for many, many years, so why was it not dealt with properly?"

Ms Oliver resigned in 2012 over the poor handling of widespread child sexual abuse cases in Rochdale, and went on to establish a foundation to support victims.

"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 continued.

Former detective Maggie Oliver said she believes the case was "not unique" and there would be others

She said it was "very well known" that iOPS was considered "unfit for purpose" by serving police officers at the time.

“My understanding is that there still are risks with it and this case clearly shows a very serious risk,” she said.

Ms Oliver also said she believed the case of Kofi Taylor was unlikely to be a "unique or rare exception".

“These failures could easily happen many more times and actually, could have already,” she added.

The review said high caseloads within GMP’s Sex Offender Management Unit had contributed to a "lack of effective oversight" by officers.

Greater Manchester Police said the fore had made "significant strides" to ensure such an error would not happen again

Taylor had previously served a 10-year jail sentence for raping a man before he moved to Greater Manchester in August 2019.

Despite being classified by a former police force as presenting a high risk of re-offending, he was never visited by his offender manager at GMP, the report said.

It also found the relevant sergeant at the time would have been responsible for overseeing about 1,000 offenders while "a maximum of 200 would be reasonable".

Lisa Longstaff, of the Women Against Rape campaign group, said the case was "appalling" and revealed how forces did not "properly prioritise" violence against women and children.

“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,” she said.

“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."

'Working tirelessly'

In March, Taylor pleaded guilty to four counts of rape of a female under 16 and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence. He was jailed for life and will serve a minimum of 11 years and four months.

The safeguarding review concluded it was not "certain the rape would have been prevented" if the proper checks had been made on Taylor but found there were missed opportunities for "protective action to be taken".

GMP said the Sex Offender Management Unit had doubled in size since the failings and was "working tirelessly" to improve.

Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parker said: “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.”

'Huge challenge'

GMP announced in March 2022 that it would be replacing part of the £60m iOPS system, but it remains unclear when that change will be completed.

An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct found the actions of two police officers involved in the case "fell below the expected standard" but stopped short of recommending disciplinary proceedings.

The case has highlighted concerns about the increasing pressure on police teams responsible for monitoring registered sex offenders.

Figures showed there were 70,052 registered sex offenders in England and Wales at the end of March 2024, an increase of 52% since 2014.

Former Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon said the number of offenders needing to be supervised was "huge" and would "keep on growing".

In 2023, Mr Creedon published an independent review into how police monitored sex offenders in the community, calling for a greater focus on the most dangerous criminals.

He said there was only a "small cohort" who presented a very high risk and "those are the ones we should concentrate effort and resource on".

“The volume [of offenders] and the bureaucracy can swamp resources so much that they’re not able to concentrate on the high-risk ones,” he added.

The Home Office said violence against women and girls was a "national emergency" and the government had made "several commitments to transform the criminal justice response to sexual violence".