Merseyside Police refers itself to IPCC over Ashleigh Hall murder

Mar 10 2010 by Kerry Wood, The Journal

THE police force that was supposed to be monitoring the man who murdered a County Durham teenager has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Merseyside Police was meant to be keeping tabs on Peter Chapman, who was a known serial sexual offender.

But after officers realised the 33-year-old had vanished from his Kirkby home early last year, it waited nine months before issuing a nationwide wanted alert.

Chapman was jailed for life at Teesside Crown Court on Monday after admitting the kidnap, rape and murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall.

The judge said he must serve 35 years before being considered for parole.

From the age of 15, Chapman had been the subject of several investigations into sexual assaults and was jailed for seven years in 1996 for the rape of two prostitutes at knifepoint. He befriended his latest victim on the social networking site Facebook and tricked her into meeting him. Facebook’s operators yesterday urged internet users not to meet strangers they have only had contact with online. Home Secretary Alan Johnson said lessons "needed to be learned".

Following those comments, a police spokesman said Merseyside Police had carried out an internal review after Chapman’s arrest last October. Procedural improvements that it identified were subsequently implemented.