GMP failed to keep tabs on dangerous predator who went on to rape a girl

A dangerous sexual predator wasn't monitored properly by Greater Manchester Police because of its now discredited computer system and because of high case loads in its sex offender management unit, according to a serious case review.

Kofi Taylor, from Salford, went on to commit an 'horrific' rape of a child while he was on bail over another allegation of rape. The 48-year-old was jailed for life in March.

Taylor let himself into the girl’s home in Trafford before while she slept and repeatedly raped her, Manchester Crown Court heard. He punched her several times during the ordeal, which lasted for up to 90 minutes.

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Crack cocaine addict Taylor, who was previously jailed for a decade for raping a man in the 1990s, was on bail at the time for a separate allegation of rape, of which he was ultimately cleared. A judge jailed Taylor for life after ruling he will ‘always’ pose a risk of danger.

A serious case review concerning his child rape victim, by the Trafford Strategic Safety Partnership, has concluded management of Taylor was 'hindered' by GMP's now discredited computer system iOPS because it 'deleted' markers for sex offenders when it was switched on in 2019 which meant stretched sex offender managers - dealing with caseloads double that recommended by official guidance - were not being alerted to important intelligence.

GMP say they 'wholeheartedly apologise' and admit 'we failed to protect her'.

Major computer system failures

The review found that Taylor, since his release in 2007 from his ten-year sentence for rape, was supposed to be subject to intense 'level 1' oversight under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), where agencies including the police come together to manage offenders after being released from prison for serious sex attacks or violence.

On his release this was managed by a different force until Taylor, who is not named in the review, moved to Trafford in August 2019, although he was homeless at the time, and GMP took over this role. He was required to report to police every week.

But GMP didn't request his details from the previous force until December 2019 'due to a technological glitch' in the force's new computer system iOPS (Integrated Operational Policing System), which meant neither the force's stretched Serious Offender Management Unit (SOMU) nor cops on the Trafford division knew of his arrival until then, the review found.

At the time, each offender manager on the unit was handling up to 90 offenders, with a fifth of those considered 'high risk'. Home Office guidance suggested each manager should have no more than 50 offenders on their books, said the review.

Their sergeants were responsible for overseeing about 1,000 offenders when 200 was considered reasonable, said the review. Sickness absence 'exacerbated the pressures on the team'.

The unit has since 'undertaken a significant recruitment programme of both offender managers and supervisors' to double the size of the unit so caseloads are now 'in line' with the Home Office guidance. It has also recruited a 'homelessness officer' to track people like Taylor, who was of no fixed abode when he arrived in Trafford.

The review found offender managers on the unit were failed by iOPS because, when it was introduced in 2019, all previously held 'markers' for registered sex offenders 'were deleted' which meant automated alerting systems were 'not functioning and some criminal activity and intelligence was not being highlighted' to the managers.

It prompted a 'significant programme of work' conducted across nine months during 2020 to re-attach the markers to the records of more than 5,000 people and addresses.

But even this did not fix the problem as 'system errors' saw intelligence added to records which 'had not been updated with the appropriate risk markers', the review found. Despite 'remedial action', GMP bosses told the review they accepted that 'some issues remain' and they intend to replace iOPS.

It would have been 'best practice' for his offender manager to make contact within Taylor within a week of his arrival in Trafford but he was not visited before July 2020 and 'no risk assessments were competed', said the review, which went on that the unit had no systems in places to 'address overdue visits'.

New arrangements were introduced in November 2021 to ensure that each month bosses on the unit are informed about overdue visits, said the review. Had this system been in place at the time, the lack of a visit to Taylor 'might have been identified', it said.

The review also found the unit's risk register 'does not seem to have been reviewed between October 2019 and March 2021, for reasons that (are) not clear'.

Taylor was charged in April 2021 with rape but was later cleared of that offence. The review said the charge was added to a duplicate police record which meant his offender manager 'was unaware of the alleged rape' so no review of the case was conducted.

The girl's mother was left 'understandably angry about the lack of effective monitoring' of Taylor, said the review.

But the review concluded that it was 'not certain that the rape would have been prevented' had he been visited by his offender manager, partly because he may not have disclosed important information about his circumstances.

'We failed to protect her'

Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parker, GMP lead for vulnerability and public protection, said: “We wholeheartedly apologise to the young victim and her family. We failed to protect her, and we take responsibility for our failures that led to Christopher Kofi Taylor committing these horrendous crimes.

"Our Sex Offender Management Unit (SOMU) has since doubled in size and is working tirelessly to implement recommendations to help us prevent harm to our communities – particularly women and girls.

"In the last 12 months, our SOMU and investigation teams have made almost 400 arrests, and we’ve completed over 4000 visits to managed sex offenders. This was recognised as significant improvement by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in July 2023.

"We’ve made significant strides to eliminate the risk of this happening again with ongoing upgrades to our records management system to improve its effectiveness and usability. A thorough process to ultimately replace the PoliceWorks element of it diligently continues.

"We have continued to offer the victim support alongside specialist partners but know nothing will undo the trauma the girl and her family have endured because of this.

"We are committed to driving improvements and working with partners to ensure the public can have growing confidence we will protect them from dangerous offenders like Taylor."

The force splashed out £27m when it launched iOPS which went live in July 2019, some 19 months behind schedule. But one part of the system key to the day-to-day running of the force, called PoliceWorks, was plagued with problems from the start.

It has been plagued by problems and Chief Constable Stephen Watson has promised to replace it, although he has admitted this may not happen until 2026.