Criminal profilers to create target list of London's most dangerous men

The horrific murder of Chiswick schoolteacher Robert Symons has prompted Scotland Yard to create a database of the capital's most violent and dangerous men.

Drawing comparisons with Tom Cruise's film Minority Report, the initiative has been launched after a series of murders in the capital including that of Robert Symons whose killer Yousef Bouhaddao had a history of violence. 

Bouhaddao was found guilty of the murder of father of two Robert Symons.  During his trial, the court heard how Bouhaddao had been on crack since he was 18 and had served three prison sentences for burglary the last of which he had been released early from five weeks before the incident. 

The new database, being compiled by Scotland Yard analysts using the criminal records of thousands of violent men, will be used to identify a target list of 100 potential killers or rapists most likely to commit a crime. 

Laura Richards, head of analysis at the Homicide Prevention Unit, said "My vision is is that we know across London who the top 100 people are. We need to know who we are targeting."

The new scheme is being piloted across five London boroughs, with information being gathered from domestic violence databases, mental health workers and details of past complaints.

November 30, 2006