Police issued arrest warrant for paedophile more than a year before he killed partner's two-year-old daughter
Harrison Simpson, 22, was charged with breaching a non-molestation order in March 2024.
A warrant for the arrest of a paedophile was issued in the 18 months before he murdered his partner's toddler daughter.
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Harrison Simpson, 22, was jailed last week for the murder of two-year-old Isabelle Welsh after a weeks-long campaign of abuse.
The toddler suffered 21 broken bones as a result of the abuse, before she collapsed at home in Thornaby, Teesside, in September.
The tot’s mother, 26-year-old Alexandra Walker, was also jailed for life, after both were convicted of murder and child cruelty following a trial at Teesside Crown Court.
Simpson was also convicted of sexually assaulting Isabelle, while Walker was cleared of that charge.
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Cleveland Police has now said that Simpson was charged with breaching a non-molestation order in March 2024.
They said in a statement that a warrant was issued in that same month after he failed to appear in court.
"Multiple enquiries and arrest attempts were carried out to try to locate and arrest him but these proved unsuccessful," the statement continued.
Isabelle's family was told about "the circumstances surrounding the outstanding warrant early on in the investigation".
The force admitted that the fact Simpson had an outstanding arrest warrant was "far from adequate" and that a review was immediately conducted following his arrest for murder.
It said several changes had been implemented following the review, including greater visibility of outstanding warrants and daily reviews of the most dangerous cases.
Alexandra Walker, 26, and Harrison Simpson, 22, were jailed for life by Ms Justice Norton, with minimum terms of 28 years and six months for Simpson, and 22 years for Walker, both minus time spent on remand.
The couple had met on Facebook Dating earlier last summer and Simpson became a regular visitor to the house where Walker and Isabelle lived together.
During her short relationship with Simpson, she voiced concerns that he might be a paedophile, and thought it was “weird” that he preferred to see her and Isabelle at the same time, rather than be alone with his girlfriend.
But Walker did not break up with him, even though she was suspicious enough to check if he was on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Just 11 days before her fatal collapse, Isabelle was taken to her GP and then to hospital with a broken leg.
Despite misgivings of some staff, the little girl was discharged to her mother who had shown aggression towards medics when concerns were raised about what had happened.
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told the court: “For weeks this child had been violently assaulted and her death, by that terrible head injury, was simply the end point in that campaign of violence to which she had been subjected.”