The small French town of L’Isle-d’Abeau fell silent today as the community buried a 10 year old girl, her tiny coffin draped in white flowers. But the grief was undercut by a rising tide of anger. Questions are mounting over police failings that may have cost the child her life.
Sources close to the investigation confirm that local officers had been alerted to a known sex offender living within 200 metres of the victim’s home, yet no follow up action was taken. The suspect, a 47 year old man with a history of assault against minors, was arrested two days after the body was discovered in a drainage ditch on the outskirts of town. He has since been charged with murder and abduction.
Meanwhile, the UK Home Office has offered forensic support to French authorities, a move that some see as a tacit admission of the scale of the blunder. Uncovered documents show that the suspect was registered on the national sex offenders database but his address had not been verified for over 18 months. The mayor of L’Isle-d’Abeau has called for a public inquiry, saying the system failed the child.
The echoes of this case will reverberate far beyond this quiet town. The UK team is expected to arrive by the end of the week.
