INADEQUATE vetting procedures allowed Robert Wells to work as a police surgeon even though he previously stood trial for indecent assault against two girls.
Wells was acquitted of sexually attacking the girls from the Brighton area - aged eight and 15 - in separate trials at Lewes crown court in September 1995.
It had been alleged he assaulted them at their homes after he had gone to examine them, but the judges in both cases halted the trials and ordered the juries to find him not guilty.
Yesterday a Sussex Police spokesman said the force had an intelligence file on Wells and an appropriate person could have viewed it, but no one asked to.
A Home Office spokeswoman said the new enhanced disclosure guidelines would have found out more about Wells. A Hampshire Police source added: "Despite the loophole, it is clear that any check on Wells would not have stopped these young girls being abused because the offences were not part of his work as a forensic medical examiner."
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