Johnson plea over Ashleigh murder

Mar 9 2010

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has called for police to "respond" to questions about the monitoring of convicted rapist Peter Chapman as he expressed his "absolute" sympathy for the family of Ashleigh Hall.

Mr Johnson said lessons "needed to be learned" following the "terrible tragedy" of the murder of 17-year-old Ashleigh by Chapman, a convicted sex offender she met on a social networking site.

Chapman was jailed in 1996 for raping two prostitutes and was also suspected, though never charged, of carrying out other rapes and sex attacks against young women.

Merseyside Police confirmed they had waited nine months to put out a national alert after Chapman - who was still on parole - could not be contacted over a traffic offence. Officers visited his house in Liverpool in January last year but it took until September for the full alert to be issued.

Asked on Tuesday's BBC Breakfast about how Chapman had come to evade the police in this way, Mr Johnson said: "I think it is right that Merseyside Police actually respond to that.

"We have some of the most stringent laws governing sex offenders in the world and this terrible tragedy... we have to learn lessons from this, whether that is an issue about the monitoring of Chapman - and there is certainly an issue there - whether we need to do more, we have got this Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre that is a very, very powerful organisation that we are seeking to give more powers to tackle this... whether we need to do more there as well...

"I just feel absolute sympathy for Mrs Hall and the family of this poor young girl."

Earlier, Facebook urged internet users not to meet strangers they have only had contact with online. In a statement, Facebook said it was "deeply saddened" by Ashleigh's death and advised people not to meet anyone they have only had contact with online unless they are certain they know who they are, "as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas".

Ashleigh's mother, Andrea Hall also questioned why Chapman was free to attack her daughter and warned of the dangers of social networking sites.

She said: "The message is for people just to be careful. Please just be careful. Make sure you please do tell somebody if you are going to meet a person. That is the message, don't go on your own."