Drugs thug breached his probation eight times before viciously beating innocent teen to death
David Braddon should have been called in after missing two probation meetings
A VIOLENT criminal breached his probation on EIGHT separate occasions before murdering an innocent teenager, The Sun can reveal.
“Ticking time-bomb” David Braddon was serving community orders for drug offences and attacking a cop when he savagely beat Conner Marshall, 18, to death after taking a cocktail of alcohol, pills and cocaine.
Braddon, 26, was being monitored by a private probation company when he battered Conner to death at a caravan park in Porthcawl, South Wales, after mistaking him for his estranged girlfriend’s former partner.
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Conner, from Barry, died from horrific head injuries four days after the attack in March 2015.
The victim’s family have now discovered how Braddon had missed a succession of meetings with his probation officers in the run-up to murdering the hard-working teenager.
Conner’s devastated mum Nadine Marshall condemned probation bosses as “clueless” for leaving Braddon on the streets to murder her son.
She said: "The man who murdered our son was a ticking time-bomb.
"But the people supposed to be supervising him ignored his repeated failure to attend appointments and left him free to kill Conner."
Battling mum-of-three Nadine, 43, obtained a confidential Serious Further Offences (SFO) report into her son’s killer after he was locked away for life, with a 20 year minimum jail term, at Cardiff Crown Court.
Braddon had a history of domestic violence, cruelty to animals and assaulting a police officer – and had well documented problems with drugs and alcohol abuse.
But under Britain's soft justice system, Braddon had never been to prison before murdering Conner and was given a paltry two-year community order in June 2014 after being convicted of assaulting a police officer.
The report revealed that in the nine-months period before he murdered Conner, Braddon skipped EIGHT meetings with his personal handler - six without good reason.
Braddon should have been called back to court after missing two appointments but victims campaigners say the private probation firm, owned by a giant German catering company, stands to lose cash if convicts in its care are sent back inside.
As well as skipping appointments with his probation worker, the brute had also skipped drink and drug counselling sessions he was required to attend as part of his curfew.
Braddon, of Caerphilly, had taken 50 valium tablets and cocaine and alcohol when he viciously beat Conner after mistaking him for his girlfriend’s ex.
He beat him with his fists and a metal bar, stamped on his head and left him naked - before realising he had never seen Conner before when he flashed his phone torch in the youngster’s face afterwards.
Braddon left the teen for dead and fled to Scotland where he was tracked down by police.
Conner lay unconscious for several hours before being found and was rushed to hospital where he died three days later.
Mum Nadine said: "The people running the probationary service looked at the background of this criminal with violence and drug related convictions and only saw him as a low risk to the public.
"These people are supposed to be protecting the public, among other things, and are clueless.”
Nadine said that despite repeatedly demanding details about when the eight appointments were missed, and how often Braddon was being overseen, probation bosses have refused to comment on the grounds it might breach data protection regulations.
She and petrol tanker driver husband Richard, 46, have met with Ministry of Justice chiefs in London and Cardiff since Braddon was caged and have slowly pieced together the failings before Conner was killed.
Nadine says she was also shocked to learn how offenders deemed low risk, like Braddon, are interviewed by probation workers through online services like Skype.
She said the service admit keeping no records of how many times convicts fail to turn up for "virtual appointments."
"It means there could be hundreds of ticking time-bombs on the streets and nobody knows if or when they are going to explode and destroy someone's life," Nadine said.
Harry Fletcher, co-director of Voice4Victims, said : “The parole regulations state quite clearly that if a person misses two appointments without good reason they they go back to court with the prospect of being sent to prison.
“This offender Braddon missed at least six appointments.
“Clearly this offender should have been taken back to court long before he murdered Conner."
The same private probation company, Working Links, were blasted over failures in the case of 27 year-old builder Tanis Bhandari, stabbed to death outside his local pub in Tamerton Foliot, near Plymouth in the early hours of New Year’s day, 2015.
Donald Pemberton, 20 at the time, was convicted of his murder along with Ryan Williams.
Before murdering Tania, Pemberton had recently been released from prison after serving half his four-month sentence for having a sharp article in a public place.
A fortnight before killing Tanis, he was arrested having been spotted on CCTV threatening passers-by with two meat cleavers.
But Pemberton's probation details were not logged on the Police National Computer and his case worker only became aware of his arrest with the meat cleavers on December 23.
Pemberton was bailed until February 9 - and in the meantime murdered Tanis.
The victim's devastated mother, Andrea Sharpe, recently met with Conner's mum Nadine to discuss how she could get more information about one of her son’s murderers.
Andrew was given a summary report of the way Donald Pemberton was handled by Working Links, but has not been allowed to see the full Serious Further Offence Report.
She said : “I was promised total clarity. This is not total clarity. I had to wait eighteen months to get this report and then there was nothing really in it."
Mr Fletcher said : “There need to be a full and open inquiry into the dreadful failure these cases."
The victims charity has helped campaigning Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts table over 40 questions about private probation companies like Working Links, who supervise low and medium risk offenders.
The MP said : ''The answers reveal an extraordinary lack of data about day to day supervision including the number of missed appointments and action then taken.
"This is not good enough. The companies role is to protect the public and rehabilitate criminals but they are not asked to produce basic information like number of staff employed and how many offenders are returned to court for breaking the rules.
"This is not acceptable and the functioning of these organisations will now be raised with Ministers."
Private companies like Working Links are paid around £2,500 for every offender they monitor on probation in the community.
But one former senior probation officer said : “If an offender on license goes back to court and is jailed then the company lose their payment. It is a disincentive to send them before a judge.”
In a statement, Working Links said: “Serious further offences are rare but each one is taken extremely seriously and investigated fully.
“All decisions were made and supervised by fully-qualified and experienced probation workers.
"Public protection is our top priority and it is our job to help move people away from crime, and we strive continuously to improve the quality of the services that we provide.
"However, not all individuals desist from further offences. The person responsible for this crime is now convicted and serving his sentence.
“The management of the case has not been linked to the crime committed – the serious further offence report found that Conner’s death was not predictable or preventable.
“After thoroughly reviewing the case, we have strengthened our partnership working between offender managers and intervention providers, ensuring enhanced joint working between agencies to support consistent risk management.”
Tonight, Welsh-language current affairs programme Y Byd ar Bedwar (The World on Four) charts Nadine’s fight for the rights of families battling for more information from the probation service.