Police were facing calls yesterday for a full inquiry after a suspected paedophile escaped to Australia and murdered an eight-year-old girl.

In a case which was being compared to that of the Soham killer Ian Huntley, Dante Arthurs was allowed to leave Britain despite being suspected of causing bodily harm to a 12-year-old girl in Bookham, Surrey, in 2001. The Times has learnt that one Surrey Police officer resigned and another faced a disciplinary inquiry as a result of botching the investigation.

Arthurs slipped through the net a second time two years later when police in Western Australia missed a chance to have him jailed for a sexual assault. Last week he pleaded guilty to the murder of Sofia Rodriguez-Urru-tia Shu, who was found dead in the lavatory of a Perth shopping centre by her brother. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled.

Yesterday her family told The Times that they were dismayed and angry to learn that she might not have died had British police pursued her killer several years ago. Sofia’s father, Gabriel, said: “It has totally devastated us and amplified our grief. Sofia’s death could have been avoided.”

Family friends called for an inquiry into Arthurs being allowed to move to Australia despite continuing inquiries into the alleged assault in Bookham six years ago. Bryan Rosling, the family priest, said that the case had “disturbing links” to that of Huntley, who faced previous sexual allegations that were not investigated properly.

“This guy was allowed to slip through the law’s fingers and commit his horrendous crime in 2006,” he said. “If he had been charged and convicted, Sofia might be alive and well today. At the very least he would have been known as a predator.”

In the alleged incident in 2001, Arthurs was suspected of grabbing the young girl from behind, putting his hands over her nose and mouth. She managed to struggle free. He was questioned by police and his house was searched, but an identification parade was repeatedly postponed – initially because of objections from Arthurs’ solicitor – and by the time police were able to go ahead with it, the suspect was on his way to Australia.

Surrey Police did not tell Interpol that Arthurs was a suspect. Officers in Australia, unaware of Arthurs’ past until he murdered Sofia last June, said that they would have known far earlier if Interpol had been alerted.

A Surrey Police spokeswoman said: “A decision was made to review identification parade procedures when Surrey Police was made aware of the case against Arthurs in Australia.

“An officer who was overseeing the identification suite at the time has since resigned from the force and another officer was given words of advice as a result of a disciplinary inquiry.

“The identity of the offender was never established as there was insufficient evidence. There was no evidence in Arthurs’ character or background to suggest that he would offend, or reoffend.”

However, on June 26 last year Arthurs dragged Sofia into a shopping centre lavatory before beating her, sexually assaulting her and strangling her as her family searched for the girl. Mr Rosling said that Sofia’s family wanted a full inquiry into the actions of Surrey Police, and into Arthurs’ background to establish whether he could have ever attacked someone else. “The family know they will never see their daughter again. But they are constantly reminded of the way she died and the brutality of it.

“And that he was never brought to justice earlier, which could have prevented this from happening – that is just mindboggling to them.”

Arthurs escaped conviction again in 2003, when the Director of Public Prosecutions in Western Australia dropped charges concerning another girl because he believed police interviews had been so aggressive that the confessions could not be used in court.

His conviction for Sofia’s murder was itself jeopardised by the behaviour of investigating police, when an Autralian Supreme Court judge ruled last month that most of Arthurs’ confession was inadmissible because he had been pressured to give certain answers. This proved irrelevant when Arthurs pleaded guilty last week to murder and deprivation of liberty. He is due to be sentenced this month.

The Huntley blunders

— Ian Huntley was a sexual predator who escaped detection and slipped through vetting

— Before the Soham murders he was accused of nine sexual offences, including rapes, indecent assault on an 11-year-old and unlawful sexual intercourse with four girls

— However, none of those investigations ended in a successful prosecution and details were not kept on file

— Huntley applied for his caretaker job after using the Data Protection Act to find that allegations had not been kept on file

— Condemnation of the police after revelations of Huntley’s past sparked an official inquiry

Source: Times database

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