Christine Stewart reports on the alarming state of Britain's probation service

The report, which says in one third of cases there was a lack of supervision by probation staff, has prompted calls for the service to improve its risk assessment methods.

The Home Office says there were 33 murders and 29 rapes committed by people on probation during the first six months of last year.

Youngsters are supervised at work by the Probation Service

Joan McKenzie, of the Association of Chief Officers of Probation, says the figures represent 0.1% of those who are on probation and points out that improvements have been made to the service since the report was compiled.

Ms McKenzie said many of those who had committed serious crimes on probation had a history of violence, mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse.

Analysing the report will be one of the first tasks for the new Home Office Minister, Paul Boateng, who has replaced Alun Michael following his promotion to Welsh Secretary.