Taxi Driver Online

The concern over crb checks is highlighted in this incident from last year.
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DAILY MAIL (London)

June 17, 2005

HEADLINE: Behind bars, the child molester who drove a school bus.

A CONVICTED sex pest who was able to work as a school bus driver because no criminal checks were carried out went on to molest a young girl.

Alan Johnson, 57, was jailed for a year after he admitted sexually assaulting the 12-year-old as she boarded his school bus. The father of three was accused of spanking the pupil's bottom last summer and was arrested after she told her sister.

In court, it emerged that Johnson had convictions for two counts of indecent exposure.

But Criminal Records Bureau checks which would have uncovered his record and prevented him from working with children had not been made.

After the case at Manchester Crown Court, Judge Peter Lakin ordered an inquiry into why Johnson's employer did not investigate his background.

Bosses admitted that they would not have taken him on had his previous convictions been made known. They said bureau checks were only carried out on new employees but Johnson had been working for the Belle Vue Manchester company, based in Gorton, for 12 years.

Yesterday the mother of his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Johnson began grooming her daughter as soon as he started driving the school bus in January 2004.

'When he was alone with her, he gave her sweets and showed her dirty jokes on his phone,' she said. 'He was grooming my daughter.

'I was amazed when I heard his previous convictions in court. I was very upset. I want people to know what this man did. 'The authorities should have carried out the right checks. 'They should have known about his history and he should not have been allowed to be a school bus driver.

The company should have done a proper criminal check and the school should have requested confirmation that it had been done.' The Criminal Records Bureau was launched after the Soham murders in 2002 when Ian Huntley was able to work as a school caretaker in Cambridgeshire because of failures to make proper checks.

Huntley, who killed ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, had been investigated by Humberside Police over eight claims of rape and sex attacks on young girls.

But the information never reached his bosses because of police failures.

According to the CRB, checks should be carried out on anyone who begins a job looking after children.

Philip Hitchen, managing director of Belle Vue Manchester, said: 'Since the incident, we routinely carry out recommended CRB checks on all personnel and investigate references issued at interviews.

'We were shocked by this incident and our feelings go out to the student and parents, whom we will be contacting immediately.' Some checks were carried out when Johnson, of Newton Heath, Manchester, applied for private hire and coach driver licences but failed to pick up his previous convictions.

A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive said: 'Although we recommend-that all bus operators running school services carry them out, CRB checks on drivers are not a bus industry standard.' A Home Office spokesman said the Criminal Records Bureau would look for any criminal convictions, no matter when committed.
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