AN INVESTIGATION is to be carried out into a charity's safety procedures amid claims former prisoners were left unsupervised while working at a cemetery - one of whom went on to rape a 56-year-old mother while she visited her son's grave.

Blue Sky, a sub-contractor for Slough Borough Council (SBC), has been placing convicted criminals at Slough Crematorium in Stoke Road to work as part of a rehabilitation programme, one of whom was Christopher Rode who was jailed for life last week for a brutal rape at the cemetery in May.

An internal investigation is due to be carried out into Blue Sky's procedures after its patron, Slough MP Fiona Mactaggart, was quizzed by The Observer.

She said: "I have been assured by the chief executive of blue sky that there will be an investigation and any lessons learned will be applied to new procedures.

"The lessons from this terrible case must be acted on urgently but to stop providing short term jobs and training for people who leave prison would leave us all more at risk of crime.

"I believe there is also an issue about security at the crematorium and cemetery. I have raised concerns before with the council when bereaved constituents have felt frightened at this isolated site although I am glad that nothing as vile as this had happened here before."

Rode, 30, of Granville Avenue, Slough was sentenced to life imprisonment at Reading Crown Court on Monday last week after pleading guilty to two counts of rape and one count of GBH with intent.

Rode hit the woman over the head as she visited her son's grave, causing her to fall to the floor where he raped her twice.

Olly Isernia, a former worker at the cemetery for SBC, said he reported his concerns to the council and Ms Mactaggart in May.

Mr Isernia, who is also Britwell Parish Council chairman, said: "I used to cut the grass in the cemetery and there was never any security. There is nothing there and never has been. People who cut the grass are around in the area and are told to keep an eye out (on the charity's workers).

"We did not work with the agency people - our gardener would not let us work with them. We normally gave them a driver and lorry and they would work unsupervised. That is that way it worked.

"I very much doubt anything has changed. To keep telling people they are safe is wrong. It is putting the public in danger. We have had a rape there and it could have been a fatality."

Rode's employment with Blue Sky was terminated after he was arrested, having worked for the company since March.

Rani Bilkhu, founder of Jeena International, a Slough based organisation which helps vulnerable women, said Blue Sky would need to re-evaluate its processes, as someone who has committed a sexual offence or someone with previous convictions is "high risk".

She added: "As an organisation, both Slough Borough Council and Blue Sky would have to make sure that they are supervised as it will reflect badly on the organisation. I would have thought that due diligence was carried out but the crime could have happened anywhere.

"As an organisation they will have to look at what they are doing and if they are supervised all the time. It is a failure of the justice system and the charity are picking up the pieces."

Kate Markey, Blue Sky managing director, did not originally confirm there was any supervision in place for its workers, but later said that ex-offenders are "placed within existing teams and receive the same supervision as other workers". Although she emphasised the offence took place outside working hours, she did not provide an answer when the Observer asked if there were procedures in place to ensure workers left the site at the end of the working day.

She added: "We have established practices and procedures delivered by an experienced team, who work with probation and other key rehabilitation agencies.

“This awful offence did not take place during working hours. However in an incident of this nature, it is important to review procedures to see if lessons can be learnt. Our processes, which are kept under constant review, have been based on those used by probation and follow the best practice in the sector.”

The charity has won numerous awards for its work with offenders and has received endorsements from politicians including former Prime Minister David Cameron.

  • SLOUGH Borough Council will continue to work alongside a charity aiding former convicts after one of its workers was jailed for a brutal rape.

The council said it was "supportive" of Blue Sky's scheme to re-introduce offenders back into work. The charity has worked as a sub-contractor for the council through Amey since 2006.

SBC confirmed that it is in the process of installing extra security cameras at Slough Crematorium following the attack in May by Christopher Rode, which will be specifically for crime reduction surveillance.

A spokesman said: “This was a shocking incident and our thoughts are very much with the victim.

“We’d like to reassure people that we take security at the cemetery and crematorium very seriously and are in the process of installing CCTV on the site, which will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. We have made various improvements over the years but we believe CCTV will be the most effective security measure.

“We are also making sure the boundary of the site is fully secure, so people can only come and go through official entry points.

“Blue Sky’s arrangement with Amey gives people the chance to get back to work as part of their rehabilitation and we are supportive of the scheme. In this case the offender was not at work at the time of the incident.”