Jeweller murder prompts guidance

Peter Williams attacked Victor Bates with a crowbar

New guidance on tagging in the wake of the murder of a jeweller has been issued, the government has revealed.

Marian Bates, 64, was gunned down in her family shop in Arnold, Nottingham, in September 2003.

Probation inspectors said later Peter Williams, 19, who was given a life sentence for her murder, had previously repeatedly breached a curfew order.

The Home Office said it would ensure electronic monitoring service providers responded to all future violations.

In response to a written question from Tory Lord Steinberg, Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland expressed "deep regret" over the death.

[Williams] had no phone line at home and they couldn't get a signal from his mobile because he lived in a high rise Home Office spokeswoman

She added: "The Home Office has issued new guidance to make sure that the electronic monitoring service providers respond to all future curfew violations and report them promptly in line with contractual obligations.

"The company which was responsible for monitoring the offender has altered its own procedures to bring them into line with our requirements."

A Home Office spokeswoman added the guidance had been issued in September and related specifically to remote tagging.

"In the case of Peter Williams, he had no phone line at home and they couldn't get a signal from his mobile because he lived in a high rise," she said.

"In some limited cases we can tag using a home monitoring device and the taggers will go past the house with a handheld machine."

Accomplice escaped

Williams was released from a young offenders' institution on licence just 20 days before Mrs Bates' murder.

He attacked her husband, Victor Bates, with a crowbar while his accomplice, who has never been caught, shot Mrs Bates in the chest as she shielded her daughter.

A report said Williams had failed to attend a string of meetings with youth offending and drug workers, education staff and the police, after his release on licence.

These were breaches of the terms of his licence, which could have resulted in his return to custody.