Victim’s mother: ‘My whole family was failed’

Mar 27 2008 by Gavin O'Connor, South Wales Echo

THE family of a three-year-old girl who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted are still being haunted by the failings of a probation team.

Watchdogs published details of a stinging report today outlining the continuing failings of a system which allowed Craig Sweeney to target a Cardiff family two years ago.

The girl’s ordeal began when Sweeney, now 26, snatched her from her home in Rumney, Cardiff, on January 2, 2006.

He took her back to his accommodation in Newport before sexually abusing her but was later caught near Swindon with the child inside his car.

The mum of the victim said she was warned the findings of today’s report would be “depressing” and that some people were still blaming her for what happened.

“My daughter was failed, I was failed and my whole family was failed,” she said.

“We’ve had to move from Rumney since this has happened and I’ve not been back in the area for a long time.”

The Chief Inspector of Probation, Andrew Bridges, looked at how offenders are handled in Gwent under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa).

He concluded that the probation team had still not improved enough since the Sweeney case.

“We were not satisfied that the Mappa systems were effective,” he said.

“We found that there has undoubtedly been much well-intentioned activity by probation, police and others to improve those processes which had not previously been working to the best effect.

“Regrettably, these intentions have not been matched by progress on the ground.

“Leaders and managers have mistakenly believed that improvements initiated at strategic level had been enacted in practice.”

His report found assessment and management of the risk of harm posed by offenders was unsatisfactory and that the “knowledge, skills and confidence” of probation officers and managers were also not sufficient.

In a sample, 14 per cent of offenders assessed for the risk of harm they posed to the public had been placed in the wrong category, the report added.

Sweeney carried out his act two days after the end of his licence from a previous paedophile attack.

He is now serving a life sentence but will be free to apply for parole in 2011. “Our nightmare goes on, day after day,” said the mum.

“People have pointed the finger at me, and still do, blaming me for what happened when it should have been prevented.

“I have to visit a psychiatrist to deal with the whole situation.

“If I could have done anything to prevent it, I would have.

“My daughter doesn’t like travelling in the dark and the thought of going back to the area brings back horrible memories.”

gavin.o’connor@mediawales.co.uk