Police chief sorry for Huntley errors

Vetting at Cambridgeshire Police had "weaknesses" and "shortcomings" at the time Ian Huntley was being checked, its chief constable admitted today.

Tom Lloyd apologised for two errors by his staff during the vetting that gave Huntley the all-clear to work at Soham Village College before he murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002.

Mr Lloyd, deputy chief constable heading the force's Criminal Records Bureau when it carried out the vetting in 2001, admitted one of his staff, Stephen Barnes, entered Huntley's date of birth wrongly on the Child Access database.

Police National Computer operator Jacqueline Giddings only checked Huntley's alias, Nixon. The chief constable said: "I apologise for these errors." In written submissions to the Bichard Inquiry - published as Mr Lloyd begins giving evidence - he revealed an internal report had criticised the force's vetting system.

Operators worked in varied ways, it said, highlighting an inability to audit what checks had been conducted and "shortcomings in the supervision and management of Cambridgeshire CRB at that time". Mr Lloyd said the weaknesses had now been eradicated.

But he stressed again it was now "more likely than not" that Humberside Police, which dealt with sex allegations in Huntley's past, was never asked to vet him.