When convicted rapist Michael Clark was freed from prison, he refused
to return to his home town of S****horpe because he claimed to fear
for his safety.
Instead he was housed in a community where no one knew of his past.
Less than a year later, he ***ually assaulted and killed Zuzanna
Zommer, a 14-year-old girl living two doors away.
Officials had tried to turn down the registered *** offender's request
to move 40 miles away to Leeds, but they were forced to back down
after representations from the homeless charity Shelter.
The organisation warned the council it was breaking the law by not
letting 40-year-old Clark, as a "homeless" person, jump to the top of
the housing queue.
Council housing chief Les Carter said: "It was too dangerous for him
to go back to S****horpe but it wasn't too dangerous for him to live
next to this poor girl, was it?
"That's the problem with this country nowadays, the rights of
offenders come first."
Clark murdered Zuzanna just 11 months after he was given a rented
house in the Harehills district of Leeds.
Yesterday at Sheffield Crown Court he was jailed for life. He was
given a minimum term of 35 years before he is eligible for parole.
Mr Justice King told him: "Your victim was only 14. She was no doubt
easy prey to your predatory ***ual desires which you found difficult
to control."
