Police and council made catalogue of errors before Lucy McHugh murder

The investigation criticised officers for not delving deeper into the background of her murderer Stephen Nicholson when he had been arrested by police prior to her death for crimes including battery and domestic violence.

The report added that city council teams did not act on information from Lucy's school about her “involvement” with Nicholson.

• GUILTY: Stephen Nicholson found guilty of murder of Lucy McHugh

Report writer Moira Murray said that if these processes were followed, this may have unearthed details about Nicholson's sexual relationship with the teen – whose body was found in a wooded area of Southampton Sports Centre in July, 2018.

Now civic chiefs have apologised to Lucy's family and friends for its "shortcomings", adding that the council "remains deeply saddened by this tragic case".

During his trial last year, it was revealed that Nicholson, now 26, had been living in Lucy’s mother’s home as a lodger where he was exploiting the vulnerable teenager.

As well as her murder, he was found guilty of three counts of rape against Lucy when she was 12 and a count of sexual with activity with another girl, who was 14.

He denied all the charges.

Ms Murray of the Southampton Safeguarding Children Partnership said that when interviewing Lucy’s mother Stacey White, she claimed she was unaware of her lodger’s history of violence and if she had, “she would never have allowed him into her home”.

In her report she also criticised the council’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub for not taking steps after information reported by the school.

She described the failing as a “missed opportunity”.

• Murder trial: Lucy McHugh 'said she barricaded herself in her room to stop alleged killer getting in'

The service, which “protects the most vulnerable children from harm, neglect and abuse”, say that upon receipt of a referral “the needs will be identified, and the child or family will be referred or signposted to the relevant contact or information”.

However, the report says this did not happen, and the school’s concerns did not pass the first stages of the referral.

It was also revealed that the city council’s Children’s Social Care team was aware of Nicholson’s convictions, but this information was not acted on, nor shared.

Speaking about the report, Supt Kelly Whiting, district commander for Southampton, said the force was already “identifying improvements following this tragic death”.

She added: “The training of officers reflects the need to understand the complex impact of adverse childhood experiences. As part of this, we are already developing a trauma informed approach to dealing with all incidents involving children.

“We will continue to work with our safeguarding partners to further improve the way we protect vulnerable children.”

The report, released yesterday, did note that “as a result of this review a number of partner agencies who have been involved in the process have changed procedures to enhance the way in which children are safeguarded”, indicating changes are already being made.

• Lucy McHugh told Stephen Nicholson she was pregnant before he death, jury hears

Responding to the report, the city council’s executive director of children’s wellbeing, Rob Henderson said the authority “remains deeply saddened by this tragic case”.

He added: “On behalf of the council I would like to apologise to the victim’s family, friends, and all who knew her, for the council’s shortcomings identified in the report.

“We accept the findings and its recommendations. We have already made changes in a number of the areas highlighted.

“Independent reviews of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and the Public Law Outline process have already taken place and their recommendations have been implemented.

“We are determined to keep improving, with the new senior leadership team overseeing the delivery of a comprehensive Improvement Plan for our Children and Learning service.

“Although progress is being made, we accept that there is still more to be done and we will continue to work hard to address the areas of improvement highlighted in the Learning Report."

Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead said: “The murder of this young person has been a tragedy for our city.

“It’s important that the recommendations set out in the report are heeded and lessons are learned for all the organisations involved”

Fellow city MP Royston Smith added: "This was an incredibly tragic case which shocked all of Southampton. The report makes for concerning reading and appears to suggest not enough was done to protect this child.

"We need to know that the recommendations go far enough to ensure that incidents like this do not happen again. "This is a terrible loss of a young life and we need to have confidence that things will improve."