September 2010

Freed sex beast struck again after case was dropped

Steenfeld would loiter near playgrounds befriending young children

A paedophile who walked free from court when a sex case against him was suddenly dropped went on to commit horrific crimes against another young girl.

Frank Steenfeld, from Manchester, also known as Francis was charged in 1997 after reports he had abused a girl aged under 10. He appeared before magistrates and was remanded in custody – but the case was never referred to the crown court.

Instead, Steenfeld was released – and over the next two years committed a string of sex attacks on another girl. He has now been jailed for 12 years when the full extent of his crimes came to light. Steenfeld, of  Westgate Avenue, Blackley,  escaped detection for nearly a decade until his perversions were uncovered in 2007.

He was jailed  this summer after pleading  guilty to eight counts of indecent assault, four counts of indecency with a child, possession of a firearm, affray, and 10 counts of making indecent images of a child. The sex attacks took place between January 1998 and December 1999, when Steenfeld was living in Middleton.

We have now  learned that in 1997, Steenfeld – then living in Rochdale – had been arrested and charged over allegations involving the eight-year-old girl.

The youngster gave a statement to police but the case was discontinued and Steenfeld set free after appearing in magistrates’ court. The alleged victim, how in her twenties, told us she was ‘sickened’ that it had taken so long to bring her alleged tormentor to justice.

Det Insp Meriel Buglass, from Rochdale’s public protection investigation unit, said:  “He appeared at magistrates’ court, where he was remanded in custody until the case was committed to crown court. It would appear that this was never heard at court but our records don’t show why this was the case. The handling of the case once it has appeared at court falls to the CPS.”

A CPS spokesman was unable to explain why the 1997 case had been dropped. But he added that, since 2007, the alleged victim had been contacted and ‘repeated’ attempts had been made to bring a case on her behalf.