Officials missed chance to rescue US girl held captive for 18 years

The revelation about how parole agents missed another opportunity to rescue Jaycee Dugard is contained in a report obtained under the California Public Records Act.

Ms Dugard, now 30, says parole agents spoke to her during her captivity and with the older of the two daughters she bore to Phillip Garrido. Garrido has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and raping Ms Dugard, who was 11 when she disappeared.

Last week, state politicians voted to settle with the Dugard family for 13.2m.

Ms Dugard and her daughters, aged 15 and 12, claimed state parole agents failed to supervise Garrido properly, starting in 1999 and did not follow up reports and observations that might have led to their rescue.

They finally surfaced last August, after living for nearly two decades in a compound in the back garden of Garrido's house in the eastern San Francisco Bay area city of Antioch.

Previous reports from the state corrections department and an independent inspector said parole agents had discovered one of the girls Garrido had fathered with Ms Dugard, who was then 12, but accepted his explanation she was a niece.

The six-page report gives a stark outline of the reasons the state agreed to settle the family's claim. It estimates it could cost 4.6m to provide Ms Dugard and her daughters with a lifetime of therapy and counselling and at least 298,000 to educate Ms Dugard and her daughters, none of whom attended school during their captivity.