CRAIG SWEENEY had a long criminal history before he was first convicted of a sex offence in April 2003. He had ten previous convictions relating to 18 offences and had previously been given a conditional discharge for threats to kill, common assault and criminal damage. He was sentenced to six months in a young offender institution in July 2002 for grievous bodily harm, after attacking a man who was concerned about his relationship with a woman.

He was released within weeks and then indecently assaulted his six-year-old stepdaughter while babysitting.

In April 2003 Sweeney was given a three-year jail sentence by Cardiff Crown Court for indecent assaulting a six-year-old girl in January of that year. He was put on the sex offenders register for life.

But the term did not mean that he would spend all three years in jail. Under the 1991 Criminal Justice Act, anyone serving 12 months to under four years is automatically released at the halfway point and supervised by the Probation Service until the three quarter point of the sentence. Sweeney was released from jail on July 1, 2004, having served only 15 months behind bars, taking into account time spent in jail on remand.

He was housed in an approved hostel and was supervised by the South Wales Probation Service under special arrangements for sex offenders considered to be a high or very high risk to the public. Within a few weeks Sweeney had been recalled to prison after he broke the terms of his supervision. He had been involved in an altercation in a public house, and though the police were called, Sweeney was not charged.

The system had worked. He had breached his supervision and action had been taken to return him to jail. Sweeney was again released in April last year and supervised by probation officers until his licence expired on December 31.

Two days later, while no longer under the supervision of the Probation Service and while living in privately leased local authority accommodation, he abducted the three-year-old from her home and sexually assaulted her.

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