Murder blamed on justice 'failure'

Christopher Braithwaite had been bailed over a rape allegation just seven days before killing 23-year-old Stacey Westbury.

In a similar case, it also emerged that a criminal committed a rape after he was freed early from jail. Justice Secretary Jack Straw disclosed that the alleged rapist would have been behind bars if he had not been freed under emergency measures to combat jail overcrowding.

The Old Bailey heard that Miss Westbury's 10-month-old son Kayden lay in his cot at a flat in West Kensington, London, when the crime took place. The tot was discovered alone and crying when the victim's father visited later that day, to find his daughter's bloodied, bruised and naked body on the sofa.

Braithwaite was free to kill despite being arrested over a rape claim eight days earlier, and was on police bail. He was later charged over the alleged rape - and another series of rapes which took place in 2005 against another woman.

But these six rape allegations were allowed to lie on file - along with another sex offence - after his guilty plea.

Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, said the case demonstrated the damage done when allegations of rape are not taken seriously enough.

She said: "The fact Braithwaite was released on bail despite having had a series of rape charges brought against him in the past shows that criminal justice agencies have utterly failed to implement adequate safeguards. Research shows that in many cases police do not even check suspects' records for previous sexual offences before discontinuing rape investigations.

"There is an urgent need for the Government to do more to ensure that better evidence is collected and acted upon when dealing with rape cases."

It was the second court case in seven days to reveal that someone on bail for rape had gone on to attack again. Somalian refugee Abdalla Ali Hemed, 44, was jailed for nine years last week after drugging and raping two women while on bail in Aberdeen. The latest Old Bailey case came as it emerged that six sexual offences have been committed by inmates who have been freed early from prison.