A PROBATION chief has admitted Nicola Sutton would still be alive today if current public protection standards had been implemented.

John Davidson, assistant chief probation officer for Cheshire, was in charge of a policy review following the care assistant's death that also sought to establish if lessons could be learned about how local professionals worked together to protect communities.

He said: "The request was that we reviewed the MAPPA arrangements from the point of release from custody and we dealt also with (Stone's) preparation for release from custody up to the point that Nicola was tragically killed."

The review included the actions of individuals within the local justice system.

Speaking on the third day of Nicola's inquest, he said a number of improvements had been put in place since 2006, to safeguard Cheshire residents from the 1,100 offenders under the wings of MAPPA at any given time.

Stone was one of 200 category two high risk offenders managed by MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) formed in July 2006, to manage violent criminals and sex offenders.

Mr Davidson said Stone was correctly classed at level two and the difference between his ranking and the highest of level three was the imminence of committing further offences - Stone was deemed to be willing to respond to work with probation to address his re-offending.

But the probation chief said he would have 'expected' at the first MAPPA meeting for members to have agreed which actions police and probation would take responsibility for.

He also said he would expect a decision to be made before Stone failed to attend an extra appointment designed to ascertain his whereabouts while Nicola was on holiday about what action would be taken.

Since Nicola's murder in September 2006, improvements have been made to the MAPPA policy.

These include the appointment of an administrator to make detailed minutes of meetings so members are fully informed of past discussions and decisions about offenders, the prison service's involvement is now a national requirement to divulge offender's behaviour in jail, the attendance of the offender manager to meetings is mandatory and breaches of licences are to be vigourously pursued and acted upon.

He added: "The panel concluded that the way in which professionals and agencies work together within the local framework was generally of a reasonable standard.

"The follow-up of information that could lead to some enforcement of a prisoner's licence is the major finding that needs to be brought into MAPPA arrangements and training of MAPPA."

Cheshire Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg queried if Nicola's murder had influenced national policy.

Mr Davidson said: "I would anticipate that lessons are learned from all review reports and find their way into subsequent guidance.

"MAPPA's job is to reduce risk - we cannot eliminate it entirely - and we should be able to do that by the proper exchange of information.

"Since Nicola was killed we have not had any other serious offence by anybody managed under MAPPA arrangements."

Asked by a jury member if the recommendations would have made a difference to Nicola's case, Mr Davidson said: "It is difficult to answer that. The view of the panel was at the time and certainly where there is expectation of any potential enforcement issues in breach of licence conditions that it should be followed up to see if we can get sufficient evidence so we can take action as needed.

"Had that happened then, had that sighting been confirmed, a recall would have occurred."