A PROBATION officer had glaring gaps in her knowledge of a violent sex offender before she helped release him.

Anthony Rice - who murdered Naomi Bryant in Winchester in 2005 - stalked two women while at Leyhill Prison, Gloucestershire, shortly before being freed.

But Zoe Peckham, a former probation officer at the jail, admitted she didn't know this when deciding to release him on licence in 2004.

She also confessed to not knowing Rice's previous offences had involved children and that one psychologist was pushing for him to undergo more treatment before he was freed.

Ms Peckham, speaking at an inquest into Ms Bryant's death, said: "I was not aware of any stalking, I understood he had been over-familiar with one member of staff."

She admitted too that she was unaware of the Lord Chief Justice's words in 1989, when sentencing Rice for attempted rape, that he was "as dangerous as could be" and would "almost certainly kill" if released from prison too early.

Rice, 48, was freed on temporary licence to Elderfield hostel, Otterbourne, in March 2004. The following August he stabbed and strangled Ms Bryant, 40, at her home in Rowlings Road, Weeke.

Karim Ghaly, for Langley House Trust, who manage Elderfield, said Rice's risk had not been objectively assessed since 2001.

He said: "I'm at a loss to understand how you can recommend a certain level of risk be managed in a certain place (Elderfield) without either giving some comprehensive consideration to what that risk is and what the facilities are provided at that place."

Ms Peckham argued Rice had not had any negative feedback from programmes undertaken at Leyhill. She later admitted she was over optimistic in hoping Rice could be managed by a temporary release programme.

Yesterday's (Tuesday) inquest, at Winchester Crown Court, heard that Rice was originally due to go to a hostel in Bradford - a more secure option than Elderfield. But his move to Yorkshire was scuppered when the local MAPPA (Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements) panel objected.

Jurors heard Rice spent his first weekend at Elderfield before Hampshire MAPPA had even met to assess what risk he posed.

Ms Peckham admitted his was not normal practice.

"It was not usual for the MAPPA input to take place after the first visit," she said. "But it was expressly recommended that he attend a MAPPA meeting."