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Howard Hughes was yesterday jailed for life for murdering Sophie Hook, report Louise Jury and Chris Blackhurst
Police in north Wales knew for many years about the paedophilic and violent tendencies of Howard Hughes, it emerged yesterday after he was jailed for life for the savage double rape and murder of seven-year- old Sophie Hook. Hughes's record dates back to his mid-teens when he was arrested after attempting to assault a boy indecently and then strangle him.
Social services officials in north Wales yesterday argued that his subsequent conviction and suspended sentence for assault - a Schedule One offence - meant police should have entered his name on a warning register and alerted the children's agencies.
However, a north Wales police spokeswoman said last night that criticism from the social services staff made little sense when Howard Hughes had been known to social services from an early age. She said that the police had had a good working relationship with social services, and that arrangements for working with other agencies had been tightened up across the country since 1981.
North Wales police are understood, however, to have interpreted the definition of Schedule One narrowly, applying it only to...