An investigation has been launched to discover how a paedophile was free to kidnap and sexually assault a six-year-old girl. Lewis Jones was already being investigated by Merseyside Police for the sexual abuse of a child when he launched an attack on a second child last summer.

Jones, 24, had been released under investigation by the force after being interviewed by officers in relation to offences committed in 2020. He was only charged with the 2020 offences after he had kidnapped and attacked the girl in Droylsden in August last year.

After handing Jones a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court yesterday, Judge Hilary Manley questioned the delay in the case and the practice of releasing suspects under investigation with ‘no fetters’ on their liberty.

“The net result is in this case, a defendant, who if he had been charged when he should have been, would not have been at liberty to abduct this six-year-old girl,” the judge said. “That’s the cold fact of the case.”

Now a senior officer has said a ‘formal review’ will take place to understand how the situation arose, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Kameen said: “We acknowledge the comments made by Judge Manley in the sentencing of Lewis Jones with regards to the time it took Merseyside Police to bring charges against Jones for the offence he committed in Merseyside. We absolutely owe it to the victims of sexual offences to ensure that we fundamentally develop and improve the way we work.

“It’s only right and proper that we establish what happened in this case and therefore we will undertake a formal review of the circumstances which led to the delay in bringing charges. We are committed to delivering an effective and timely justice for all victims, particularly the most vulnerable, which includes children.

“Our thoughts at this time are with the victims and their families, who will never get over the impact of the heinous offences committed by Jones, and I would like to reassure them that I will personally oversee the review.”

The judge had already demanded a letter of explanation from the force, which included a chronology of the case which she said made ‘very unhappy reading’. Prosecutor Vanessa Thomson told Jones’ sentencing hearing: “There seems to have been issues with personnel, retirement, third party records and examination of a mobile phone.”

The judge said prosecutors acted with ‘alacrity’ after the case was transferred to be dealt with by GMP and the Crown Prosecution Service in Greater Manchester. At Jones’ sentencing hearing, the court heard how he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl on a number of occasions in 2020 after lying to her about his age. He said he was 14, when he was actually 21.

The judge said he had ‘constructed an edifice of lies and manipulations’ to ‘sexually exploit her’. The girl was ‘very distressed’ when she discovered his true age.

Jones was interviewed by police in June 2020 and April 2021. He answered ‘no comment’ in the first interview, and in the second he told officers that he ‘didn’t know it was wrong to have sex with a 15-year-old’.

After being released under investigation, Jones moved to Manchester and in August last year he was sitting on a bench in Droylsden. A number of children, including a six-year-old girl, were playing and making a den together.

Jones was secretly taking pictures of the children’s bottoms, and when the others momentarily became distracted he took his chance and grabbed the six-year-old. He carried her to a nearby wooded area and carried out a horrendous, violent sexual assault. Jones only let her go when he heard the girl’s terrified family screaming her name to try and find her.

GMP issued images of Jones, who had been caught on CCTV as he fled, in a bid to catch the kidnapper. His father brought him to the police station at Manchester town hall after seeing the images of his son.

PC Craig Hill, a neighbourhood officer who works in Droylsden, told how the incident has created ‘fear and distrust’ among residents. “They are now scared of letting their child out by themselves and are wary whenever they see strangers in the area,” he said.

On Tuesday, Jones, previously of Brocklebank Lane, Liverpool, was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years in prison.

He admitted kidnap and two counts of assault by penetration in relation to the attack last year, and four counts of sexual activity with a child, assault by penetration and having indecent images of children in relation to the 2020 offences.

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