"The public's safety cannot be gauaranteed'

A MURDER is committed once every six days by a convicted criminal under probation supervision, figures reveal.

- By Tom Pettifor

Criminals on licence killed a total of 599 people in the last decade Ministry of Justice statistics show.

The grim toll can be revealed after ministers and probation leaders were accused of having “blood on their hands” for failings that left sexual predator Jordan McSweeney free to kill Zara Aleena.

A damning report published yesterday found McSweeney, 29, was wrongly considered medium risk by the private firm monitoring him.

Not all the murders can be blamed on probation failings, but Justin Russell, Chief Inspector of Probation, has now warned that without urgent government action, he cannot guarantee that the public is being properly protected.

In his review into probation’s supervision of McSweeney, he noted the staff involved had “unmanageable workloads”.

McSweeney was handed a life sentence and jailed for at least 38 years last month after admitting sexually assaulting and murdering Zara in Ilford, east London.

He had been out of prison for only nine days when he killed the aspiring lawyer, 35, in June last year.

During that time he had failed to turn up for three probation appointments.

Prison staff submitted 15 concerns about the bare-knuckle boxer, mainly for making weapons and using drugs, but details were not shared with probation.

Justice minister Damian Hinds has said he was “profoundly sorry” for the “serious failings”.

McSweeney – who is appealing his sentence – stalked Zara as she walked home from a night out. Grabbing Zara from behind, he repeatedly kicked and stamped on her head and body in a sustained attack lasting nine minutes.