SHANE Cook was 13 years old when the car in which he was travelling in with four others crashed on Preston New Road, Samlesbury, in the early hours of March 16 this year.

When Shane failed to return to Blackburn with Darwen Council's Anchor House care home in Darwen at 9pm the previous evening, the Social Services Emergency Duty Team was contacted at 9.20pm; Securicor, which monitored his electronic tagging system, at 9.30pm, and the police at 9.50pm.

He had originally been taken into residential care in 2002, though social workers had been involved with him since 1990. He had been in court on arson, burglary and theft charges.

He did not respond to the routine at Cherry Tree Resource and Reception Centre, Blackburn, and a place was found for him in Blackpool with a "structured environment and education on the premises".

But social services officers decided this might prove more dangerous as he absconded to his mother's home in Blackburn regularly and the distance he travelled would increase.

His dad Wayne criticised the result of a 14-page report into the social service department's handling of the case and said crucial questions about his care were left unanswered.

At the time Stephen Sloss, director of social services, would only say: "We feel the council acted appropriately in all our dealings with the case of Shane Cook -- a fact which was supported by the findings of the independent inquiry."