PROBE INTO RAPIST'S FREEDOM TO TRAVEL
AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into how a convicted rapist meant to be supervised on his release from prison was able to go on the run and strike again.Authorities are to probe how Timothy Foster, who had been living in a bail hostel in Weymouth, managed to evade authorities, travel to another county and subject a woman to a harrowing attack.
The 26-year-old should have been under the watchful eye of police and probation services and forced to obey strict conditions upon his release from jail to ensure the safety of the public.
Like other dangerous sex offenders, Foster was subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) which mean police and probation monitor him once back in the community.
But he managed to slip through the net – carrying out another terrifying rape on a footpath near Ashurst railway station in Hampshire within days.
As reported in the Dorset Echo yesterday, Foster was jailed for 14 years for the rape following a trial.
He had only been out of prison for nine days on licence and housed in Weymouth before he struck again.
It has now emerged that the alarm had in fact been raised three days before he raped a woman when he broke his conditions of release – prompting police to get a warrant for his arrest and his immediate recall to prison.
Last night Dorset Police – the force responsible – were staying tight-lipped about what happened and said it could not find a senior officer to speak about the apparent failings.
It did however reveal an independent review was underway to find out what went wrong.
The area’s probation service also couldn’t make any comment.
It was on Sunday, May 14 when Foster sneaked on a train without paying – hurriedly getting off at Ashurst when he saw a ticket inspector coming.
He spotted a middle-aged woman and leapt over a fence to follow her.
Foster knocked her to the ground and raped her.
Foster, who was released from prison to a bail hostel in Westwey Road, Weymouth, was jailed for 14 years.
