Police failure to watch road cameras left man free to kill

An on-the-run sex offender who kidnapped, raped and murdered a teenager he met on Facebook was able to drive freely through Yorkshire because police were not checking their road cameras.

North Yorkshire Police was among three forces who missed chances to catch Peter Chapman, 33, who lured 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall to her death after befriending her through a fake internet profile carrying a picture of a handsome teenage boy.

Chapman’s Ford Mondeo was picked up twice by North Yorkshire’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras on October 26, 2009, but officers did not realise because they were not monitoring the system 24 hours a day.

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When Chapman was eventually arrested by Cleveland Police later that day, he led officers to a field near Sedgefield, County Durham, where he had dumped Miss Hall’s body after killing her the night before.

Two days before Miss Hall’s murder, Merseyside Police had asked forces across the country to look out for Chapman because he was wanted in relation to allegations of theft, arson and failing to report a change of address.

Chapman’s car was spotted on the ANPR system 16 times before he was arrested, but there were “serious inconsistencies” in the way North Yorkshire, Cleveland and Durham Constabulary responded to the ‘hits’, an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has found.

The IPCC discovered that Cleveland monitored ANPR around the clock, but North Yorkshire only checked it in relation to specific operations. In Durham, the system sometimes failed completely.

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Investigators found there was potential for the system to become overloaded with information related to minor issues, which could lead to more important matters being missed.

IPCC Commissioner Nicholas Long called for a full review of the system, adding that the investigation had “highlighted serious flaws” and thrown up many “what ifs”.

“It is impossible to say with certainty that better use of the ANPR system could have prevented Ashleigh Hall’s murder,” he said. “But it is clear there were opportunities missed here.

“It took 16 hits on the ANPR system before Chapman was finally arrested. Tragically in that time he was able to enact his terrible plan to murder Ashleigh.

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“My sympathies go out to her family again for their loss. I cannot begin to comprehend how terrible this loss has been for them.

“What I hope they can see from this report is that the issue here is around systemic failures, and not individual misconduct.”

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said the force fully acknowledged and agreed with the IPCC’s findings.

The outcome of a second IPCC investigation into how Merseyside Police monitored Chapman, who was on the sex offenders’ register, is expected to be published within weeks.