Blunders left man free to kill

Serious failings that allowed a paranoid schizophrenic to kill a passenger on a London bus after being wrongly freed from prison were exposed today.

Anthony Joseph stabbed hospitality worker Richard Whelan, 28, seven times on a bus in Holloway Road three years ago. It emerged later that Joseph had been wrongly freed from prison only a few hours earlier in an administrative blunder.

The prison staff in Manchester were unaware that Joseph was wanted elsewhere in the country because those details had not been made available on the police computer.

Today, an official investigation conducted for the Attorney General confirmed Mr Whelan's death could have been prevented. Its key recommendations include ensuring better coordination between police, court and prison records.