Straw sorry for Sonnex failures
By Alex Stevenson
Jack Straw has blamed failures of “judgments” by individuals for the brutal murder of two French students by a man who should have been in police custody.
Giving a statement on the case of Daniel Sonnex, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison last week for torturing and murdering Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez, Mr Straw denied a lack of resources in London probation services was responsible.
Sonnex should have been recalled to prison 16 days before he tied up the students and stabbed them a total of 244 times.
He had been jailed for knife crime but allowed out on licence. The Ministry of Justice told Lewisham borough council to bring him into custody on June 13th. He should have been in custody within 96 hours.
“I have apologised to the families. and I do so publicly again today,” Mr Straw told the Commons.
“The failings in the Sonnex case are a matter of profound regret and sorrow to all those concerned.”
The justice secretary said he had responded with “the most severe intervention available to him”. He said “poor judgment and poor management” were responsible but pressed that “where the system failed in this case action will be taken”.
Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve began his response by stating: “These tragic deaths were the consequence of serious and systematic failures in the criminal justice system.
“Sonnex, a dangerous criminal, slipped through every crack in the system.”
He referred to the 2006 death of John Monckton, a City executive murdered in his Chelsea home by a man whom the probation service should have been housed outside London.
Mr Grieve said following this case a series of recommendations had been made which had “not been followed through”.
“This government’s failures have put the public at greater risk,” he warned.
Mr Straw told his Conservative counterpart that “what failed here. was a simple matter of judgments by people who should have come to better judgments”.
He conceded Mr Grieve was “probably right” about inadequate staffing levels in Greenwich and Lewisham, but denied that they were facing budget cuts. The justice secretary said London’s probation services underspent their 2008 budget by over £150 million.
Home affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz told Mr Straw that “what he has said will not satisfy the families of those who have died”.
And Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth described the case as “grim” and “dreadful”.
He suggested a “failure of policy” had taken place and pressed that “the authorities have to accept some degree of responsibility”.
“Of course they do,” Mr Straw conceded.
