HORRIFIC in itself, the murder of Wesley Neailey caused huge controversy and highlighted the need for greater monitoring arrangements for sex offenders.

Wesley's killer Dominic McKilligan, already convicted of a string of sex attacks, had been living unmonitored in Newcastle, having slipped through the net of police and social services.

He befriended the 11-year-old youngster, from Newcastle's Arthur's Hill district, and lured him to his flat less than a mile away.

There, he committed a cold, calculated murder, strangling Wesley, whose body was found about a month later dumped in a cardboard box in remote countryside in Northumberland.

McKilligan, who was born in November 1979 to a Turkish father and English mother, was just 13 years old when he admitted 11 offences of indecent assault.

His child victims were threatened with lit cigarettes and taken to a den in a garage block on McKilligan's home estate, in Bournemouth, Hampshire.

He was sentenced in 1994 to a three-year supervision order at the Aycliffe Young People's Centre in County Durham. The sentence came to an end on August 31, 1997.

This was the day before the Sex Offenders' Act came into force, which would have required McKilligan by law to tell the police of any change of address.

Six days later, he moved into a flat at 100 Wingrove Road, Newcastle, and found himself a job as a takeaway delivery boy, befriending local children along the way.

McKilligan was able to blend easily into his surroundings, with the authorities having no knowledge of his movements.

Aycliffe Young People's Centre had no formal contact with McKilligan after his release. It believed Bourne-mouth social services had responsibility for informing the police of his new address.

In a terrible twist, Bourne-mouth believed the centre had agreed to inform the police.

As a result, the probation service and police on Tyneside were simply unaware of McKilligan - giving him complete freedom to act as a child predator.

Wesley's family have always claimed that better monitoring procedures could have saved their boy.

They threatened to sue police last year claiming his disappearance from home was not treated seriously enough and considered initially as simply a runaway.

They have also previously backed newspaper campaigns to "name and shame" convicted sex offenders.

Following Wesley's murder, former Home Secretary Jack Straw pledged to examine loopholes in the law which allows convicted child offenders to live unsupervised in the community.

The Government's Social Services Inspectorate also ordered the three councils involved in the case - Durham, Newcastle City and Bournemouth - to work together to review the treatment of McKilligan.

This resulted in yesterday's report, which said there were lessons to be learnt from the tragedy, cited "clear mistakes", and called for a national strategy for the handling of young sex offenders.

Too late though for Wesley Neailey and, although the conclusions drawn may help prevent future tragedies, it is ultimately of cold comfort to his grieving family