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MP in criminal background check change call

David Spereall
BBC News Yorkshire
St Giles Trust A man wearing a baseball cap takes a selfie with a group of seven children against a backdrop of sports pitches. The faces of all the children have been blurred.St Giles Trust
Rashid Zaman started working with children in 2021, and carried on doing so despite being added to the barred list in 2023

An MP has called for an overhaul of the criminal background check system after it was revealed a murderer spent two years working with children.

Rashid Zaman, 44, worked for a charity visiting schools and children's homes after he was released from prison for killing a man in Halifax in 2001.

A BBC investigation found a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate issued in 2021 did not stop Zaman, from Bradford, from working with children, but a second one issued in 2023 did.

Robbie Moore, Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, said the government needed to "urgently look at strengthening both sentencing policies and safeguarding laws".

The DBS did not tell the BBC why he was allowed to work with children in 2021 and then barred in 2023, as it does not comment on individual cases.

It said serious offences committed after 2006 may lead to someone being automatically barred from working with children, but that offences committed before that time would lead to a discretionary barring investigation.

Gemma Dillon/BBC Robbie Moore, a man wearing a navy suit pictured on College Green near the House of Commons. He has red hair and is wearing a blue tie with white spots.Gemma Dillon/BBC
Robbie Moore said he feared the case was "not a lone one"

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Moore said that for pre-2006 offences to not automatically ban convicts from working with children was "clearly wrong".

Branding the situation a "major safeguarding failure" he said: "I suspect this case in Bradford is not a lone one."

Zaman spent 15 years in jail for killing Kevin Jackson, who was trying to stop Zaman and two others from stealing his father-in-law's car.

Following his release he began volunteering with the St Giles' Trust, which works with ex-offenders.

After becoming a paid employee in 2021, Zaman began visiting children's homes and schools.

'Shocking'

This continued after 2023, when a second DBS certificate barring him from working with children was issued.

St Giles' told the BBC its senior management was not aware of the outcome of the most recent DBS check until December 2024, after which they said he was dismissed.

In a statement issued by Moore after he spoke in Parliament, the MP said: "A justice system that allows this to happen is failing in its most fundamental duty.

"It is entirely unacceptable that the charity failed to act on this information until December 2024 and parents have every right to be outraged.

"This is a catastrophic safeguarding failure that raises very serious questions about the wider system of DBS checks and the responsibilities of charities that work with vulnerable young people."

Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell said it was a "shocking" case and thanked Moore for raising it in Parliament.

She said the government would soon outline what steps it is "taking to ensure this never happens again".

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