Merseyside Police launch case review after paedophile was left free to attack again
Lewis Jones attacked a 6-year-old girl in Greater Manchester, 2 years after first being arrested for a separate attack
Last updated 27th Nov 2023
Merseyside Police are promising to launch a formal review into the circumstances which allowed a paedophile to go on to attack again.
Lewis Jones, formally from Allerton in Liverpool, was first arrested in 2020 after grooming and sexually abusing a 12 year old girl he met through Snapchat.
He was still under investigation two years later, by which time he'd moved to Greater Manchester, and was free to attack again.
Last summer, he snatched a 6 year old girl from a park in Droylsden where she'd been playing with friends making a den, before he subjected her to a sickening attack.
He was arrested again, this time by Greater Manchester Police, and charged.
At Manchester Crown Court today (25th April) Jones was deemed a dangerous offender as he was jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years in jail.
Passing sentence, Judge Manley said delays by police in charging and prosecuting offenders before they commit further offences is "an extremely troubling state of affairs" and this case was an "egregious example".
She said: "The net result is, in this case, this defendant, if he had been charged when he should have been, would not have been at liberty to abduct this six-year-old girl.
"That's the cold facts of the case."
In a statement, Merseyside's Assistant Chief Constable Mark Kameen said:
“We acknowledge the comments made by Judge Manley in the sentencing of Lewis Jones with regards to the time it took Merseyside Police to bring charges against Jones for the offence he committed in Merseyside.
“We absolutely owe it to the victims of sexual offences to ensure that we fundamentally develop and improve the way we work.
“It's only right and proper that we establish what happened in this case and therefore we will undertake a formal review of the circumstances which led to the delay in bringing charges.
“We are committed to delivering an effective and timely justice for all victims, particularly the most vulnerable, which includes children.
“Our thoughts at this time are with the victims and their families, who will never get over the impact of the heinous offences committed by Jones, and I would like to reassure them that I will personally oversee the review."