Coroner warns more women could die after teen killed by sex predator being supervised by probation and police

Leah, who lived with her family on Emerson Valley, was just 19 when she mysteriously disappeared while walking to work in February 2019.

Police treated her case as a missing person but in October 2022 – three years and eight months after she vanished – Leah’s body was found hidden in the attic of an empty house on Furzton estate.

In June this year an inquest was held and senior coroner Tom Osborne concluded that the home-loving teenager was unlawfully killed by a convicted local sex offender, Neil Maxwell.

Maxwell, aged 49, was on the run from police at the time, even though he should have been fully monitored. He took his own life just two months after Leah disappeared.

The verdict of the inquest was unlawful killing.

This week, the coroner has taken the relatively unusual step of writing a Report for the Prevention of Future Deaths and sending it to the Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation, copying in the Chief Probation Officer for England and Wales, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and the grieving Croucher family.

The report calls for a shake-up of the system used to monitor sex offenders.

It states: “On the morning of the 15th of February 2019 Leah left her home address to walk to work, however she never arrived. Later on the same day her family reported Leah as missing to the police. A police investigation followed but they were unable to locate or establish what had happened to Leah.

"O the 10th of October 2022 Police were alerted to the presence of a body located in the loft of a Milton Keynes house. The house was located on the route Leah would take to work.. A police investigation followed.”

The report adds: “The police confirmed that the circumstances and evidence supported that Leah Croucher had been abducted and murdered either on the day or shortly after she had gone missing. Strong evidence was obtained identifying an individual as the perpetrator. This person had died from suicide on the 20th of April 2019.

"He was a known repeat sex offender subject to supervision by the probation service and the police before, and at the time of the murder.”

Mr Osborne concludes: “My inquiries revealed matters giving rise to concern. In my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken. In the circumstances it is my statutory duty to report to you.

“Leah Croucher was unlawfully killed by a man who was subject to supervision by the probation service and the police. Despite that supervision he was in breach of the terms of his probation and was able to kill Leah when it was known that he was a predator and danger to females.”

The report calls for “a fundamental review” of the process for monitoring sex offenders in the community and the sharing of information between all agencies, particularly the police and probation service.

This would “ensure that a similar death can be prevented,” it states.

The authorities must now respond within 56 days, giving details of action to be taken.