A COUNCILLOR who has long campaigned for tougher vetting of people who want to work with children says the Ian Huntley case proves her point.
Maureen Campbell blasted a system which allowed a 'sex monster' to slip through the net and work as a school caretaker in Soham, where he met his victims Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells.
In 2000 she joined child action groups in slamming Government plans to recruit 83,000 childcare workers in nurserie and schools under the present system as 'an open invitation to paedophiles'. Telephone:
After closely watching the progress of the Jessica and Holly murder investigation and Huntley's Old Bailey trial, Mrs Campbell said she prayed the public inquiry will never let a paedophile work with children again.
The Englesea borough councillor was also incensed to hear of the case of Michael Dixon, 48, a Crewe man jailed in November for indecent assault on girls aged nine and 13.
He slipped through the net to assist at Our House Community Centre in Crewe and help to set up SCANS, the charity taking needy children on holiday.
MrsCampbellsaid:'The caseofHuntley was Data Protection gone mad. 'The allegations against him of raping young girls should have been held on files and given to any authority wanting to know about his past.
'No way would he have got a school caretaker's job with a record like his.'
She added: 'Having looked into the vetting of childcare workers, I can see it is riddled with huge holes.
'There is confusion over what records should be kept by police forces, with some weeding out more information than others. It makes the system hit and miss.
'Data Protection should work to protect the public at large. Instead, it can stop employers getting to know vital information.
'Huntley looks like a perfectly normal young man but his re-cord, had it have been revealed, would have shown he had a very dubious past.'
None of the information was disclosed to the school when it asked for a police check on Huntley's background in 2001.
Humberside police and North West Lincolnshire Social Services had files on him but withheld them because of systems failures, bureaucratic errors and civil liberties arguments.
As Huntley faces Christmas in jail, at the start of two life sentences, the Crewe councillor is urging South Cheshire people to write to their MP Gwyneth Dunwoody and Home Secretary David Blunkett calling for a more thorough vetting system and greater access to information.
