POLICE FAILED to investigate properly the disappearance of a girl murdered in Northern Ireland 14 years ago, a report claimed yesterday. Valuable evidence in the search for Arlene Arkinson's killer was unavailable because police delayed arresting the chief suspect.
Robert Howard (64) - a serial sex offender who was with the 15-year-old on the night she went missing on the way home from a disco in Donegal - was acquitted of the murder two years after he was jailed for life for killing a south London schoolgirl whose body was found in a cement works in Kent.
The remains of Arlene, from Castlederg, Co Tyrone, have never been recovered, despite massive searches of mountains and bogs near her home and on the Border.
Now, a report by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson has claimed the RUC failed to investigate her disappearance properly. "The CID did not respond with vigour to reports that a vulnerable person was missing, having last been seen in the company of a man who was a known sex offender.
"Together these aspects should have alerted them sooner to the possibility they were dealing with a potential murder inquiry."
Police took 46 days to arrest Howard when they could have detained him within two, according to a spokesman for the Ombudsman.
"The failure to do so sooner prevented the seizure of clothing he wore on the night of the disappearance and allowed for the opportunity to dispose of evidence."
Arlene's sister, Kathleen Arkinson, said the report totally vindicated her criticism of the police handling of the case. "They've never done enough. But our family has never given up hope of finding Arlene's body.
"I hold Eric Anderson responsible. They had Howard in [ for questioning] back in 1994, but they let him go." Former Det Supt Anderson was the RUC officer who headed the search.
"It is 14 years this month since she went missing, and I'm still travelling the country, doing all I can to get justice for her and our family. I still haven't seen the police files in the case. Where are they?"
Howard was cleared of murdering Arlene in June 2005. He had given her a lift with two friends from a disco in Bundoran. He insisted in court that Arlene got out of the car after he dropped off the others.
The jury at the trial in Belfast was not aware he had been convicted and jailed for life in October 2003 for the murder of Hannah William (14), from Deptford, south London, whose body was later found in a cement works. She had been strangled with rope after vanishing from her mother's home in April 2001.
Howard, from southeast London, had a string of sex convictions going back 40 years. Police suspect he may be linked to the disappearance of up to six people. At the time of Arlene's disappearance he had been living in Castlederg, Co Tyron.
A police spokesman said: "The PSNI had only just received the report and it would be inappropriate to comment until we have had an opportunity to study its contents." - (PA)