By Brian Allison, local government reporter

AN AUDIT of sex offender cases in Dundee is to be carried out in the wake of a horrific case in North Lanarkshire involving the attempted rape of a two-year-old child.

James Campbell (19) snatched the child from her home two months after his release on licence halfway through a sentence for breaking into the house of a 91-year-old woman with intent to rape.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the attempted rape of the child, with a recommendation that he serve at least 10 years before he can apply for parole.

Scottish Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson asked the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) to investigate the management of the post-release supervision of Campbell.

Following on from the investigation the minister asked for an audit and review of medium and high-risk sex offenders in Scotland to be carried out by local authorities in conjunction with the police and the Scottish Prison Service.

Dundee social work director Alan Baird said the SWIA report had highlighted that managing the risks posed by sex offenders within the community was a complex task, cutting across councils, police, prisons, housing and health services. It also stressed risk could never be eradicated.

Mr Baird said the report concluded even optimal work might not have prevented the offence from being committed.

“However, the investigation indicated that weaknesses in managing this case occurred across all of the agencies and at all stages through the prison sentence and back to the community,” he said.

Among the areas of concern were:

* Failure to adhere to national standards.

* There was no attempt to address Campbell’s sex offending while he was in prison.

* Problems in identifying suitable accommodation prior to release and that staff in the homeless accommodation provided for Campbell were unaware he was a sex offender.

* Police risk assessments were not done in conjunction with social work and the social worker in the community was not trained in the use of risk assessment.

* Failure to follow agreed procedures for the management of sex offenders in the community.

Mr Baird said the SWIA report contained 12 recommendations relating to practice, both locally and nationally, that had implications for social work, housing, the police and the prison service.

They included adhering to national standards and engaging with prisoners’ families; ensuring housing and social work staff collaborate in identifying accommodation; providing assessment and treatment in prison; and ensuring collaboration between the police and social work in undertaking risk assessments.

“The supervision of sex offenders poses particular challenges for staff and it is important that they are appropriately trained and supported in this complex and demanding area of work,” Mr Baird said.

“Even the most serious of sex offenders who receive a lengthy prison sentence will eventually be released back into the community and it is important that strategies are in place to minimise the risk and ensure that appropriate accommodation is available.”

Mr Baird said an inspection of criminal justice social work in Tayside had noted that, in most sex offender cases, supervision focused consistently on offending and staff supervised offenders rigorously and managed non-compliance robustly.

“The report also comments that the partnership is well served by the Tay Project, who work exclusively with sexual offenders,” he said. “However, within Dundee there is a recognition that the overall approach to the assessment and management of sex offenders would benefit from a review and this work had commenced prior to the publication of the North Lanarkshire report.”

The findings of the audit, together with action taken as a result, must be reported to the SWIA by the end of September.