Brute had been sought by the force for 20 months

MURDERER Paul Robson should have been behind bars when he killed teacher Caroline Kayll – but police failed to arrest him for 20 months.

The cage fighter had been wanted for prison recall but Northumbria Police had been unable to find him.

Robson had been living with Caroline Kayll but was using his registered address at Stanley Street, Howdon, Wallsend, to grow cannabis.

The full circumstance surrounding Caroline’s death are likely to be looked into at an inquest and domestic homicide review.

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “Paul Robson had been wanted on a prison recall when he committed these offences, after he failed to attend a meeting with his probation officer.

“We are continuing to work alongside some of our key partners to establish if any opportunities to arrest Robson were missed and if any changes need to be made to our processes around locating wanted suspects.

“Those inquiries are ongoing but we have already made positive changes to how we coordinate inquiries around locating suspects wanted across our force area.”

Asked what they did to find him, the police said they carried out “a number of inquiries at an address in Wallsend but he was not present during those visits”.

Neighbours were also spoken to but they did not know his whereabouts.

Asked whether they carried out inquiries to locate him at Caroline’s home, they said they had not as they “did not receive any information that the two of them had entered into a relationship”.

Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court heard the 50-year-old was jailed for ten years in 2014 for firearms and drugs offences.

Robson, who was also a mixed martial arts fighter and amateur powerlifter, was released on licence on November 30 2018 but by March 2019, he was wanted for recall.

But Northumbria Police had not caught up with him by November 2020.

Jurors heard Robson worked in the education department at HMP Northumberland during his sentence.

Caroline was previously a prison officer and then teacher at the jail and began a clandestine relationship with Robson while he was an inmate there and they stayed together after his release. They lived together for a time at Caroline’s home.