Council sent sex assault victim's details to attacker

A report is expected to say there was "evidence of fault" against the council

A council in Berkshire sent confidential personal information about a child sex assault victim to her attacker, according to a report.

The Wokingham Borough Council error was among a string of failings related to the case, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The forthcoming Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) report, seen by LDRS, is set to find fault with the council.

The authority said it would be "inappropriate" to comment.

The child's mother said: "Their latest bout of mistakes, to give a convicted sex offender personal data about his survivor, is disgraceful. To say sorry and think that's OK is disgraceful."

Lifetime ban

Wokingham council had previously been directed to pay the victim's mother more than £10,000 in legal fees after it failed to properly investigate reports dating back to 2011.

In 2013, the council apologised after closing its case on the attacker, despite ongoing police investigations.

After his conviction in 2014, the courts ruled the attacker should have a lifetime ban on contact with the victim and should not have unsupervised contact with any female under the age of 16 for at least five years.

But in September 2018 the attacker asked a Hampshire police officer assigned to him under probation if there was any restriction on him contacting another young member of the victim's family.

The council told the police there was not, despite holding records on the ban and a sexual offences prevention order, and sent confidential details of the victim to her attacker.

Wokingham's children's services councillor Pauline Helliar Symons said: "We cannot make a comment until the LGO investigation is completed and we receive its final decision. To do so would be inappropriate for us and unfair on those involved."

The LGO report is expected to say there was "evidence of fault" against the council which resulted in the data breach.