Collette Gallacher: Sisters of murdered girl call for changes to law

Collette Gallacher was on her way to school when she was abducted, raped and murdered by Adam Stein

The sisters of a six-year-old girl murdered on her way to school are calling for changes to the law around violent sexual offenders.

Collette Gallacher was raped and strangled by Adam Stein in Corby, Northamptonshire, on 28 February 1986.

Her sisters want new laws to prevent offenders changing their names and to allow them to be added to the sex offenders register retroactively.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it was prioritising public safety.

Collette was walking to a bus stop, on her way to Our Lady of Walsingham Primary School, when Stein lured her away with a packet of crisps.

Following a massive search by police and volunteers, her body was found six days later in Stein's attic.

'Hiding his crimes'

Stein has been recalled to prison twice, most recently in November, but Collette's family were not told why.

They have since been told it related to four breaches of the Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which they campaigned for Stein to have.

However, they do not know the exact nature of the breaches and say there should be greater transparency for victims and their families.

They said they found out Stein had also changed his name and called for sexual offenders, especially those committing crimes against children, to be banned from doing so.

Collette's younger sister Claire Holmes, 31, said: "If he's changing his name, then he's hiding his crimes."

Claire (left) and her sister Lauren Holmes want to change the law

Name changes mean offenders may not show up through Claire or Sarah's Law disclosure schemes and families of victims are not always notified.

Ms Holmes added that her family "assumed" that Stein would be on the sex offenders register due to the nature of his crimes.

"We don't understand how he was ever deemed safe," she said.

"We know what he's like and all the loopholes in the law about name changes and the sex offenders register need [to be] changed.

"It feels very backwards. That's the thing with everything we know about it now and why we want it changed. People should not be able to hide from their crimes."

She said every time the family was told new details of Stein's offending it was "worrying", especially when it was shrouded in mystery.

"Why is there so much protection for him?" she said.

The younger sisters said they believe better transparency was needed to prevent anyone else facing the same situation as their family

Through reports and other information provided at parole board hearings over the years, the family felt they had seen evidence Stein was a "master manipulator" who presented a danger, Ms Holmes added.

North Northamptonshire Council has backed the sisters' calls for tougher rules and will write to Justice Secretary Dominic Raab asking for changes to the law.

It will note the current "limited consideration of victims" before offenders are released; ask for greater measures to ensure victims' views are considered during the probation process and that serious sexual offenders being release can be retrospectively added to the sex offenders register if they were convicted before it was set up in 1997.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "This was an appalling case and our thoughts remain with Collette's family.

"We want victims going through the justice system to feel listened to, supported, informed, and to be treated fairly, properly, and with dignity.

"Cases such as this are why we are putting the principles of the Victims' Code in law and toughening the parole system, giving ministers the power to veto the release of dangerous offenders and making public safety the only priority in all decision-making."