An independent report has revealed the killing of Halesowen schoolgirl Christina Edkins could have been prevented and her violent attacker was likely to reoffend after being released from prison.

Christina was on her way to Leasowes High School on the number nine bus in March 2013 when she was killed with a single stab wound to the chest by paranoid schizophrenic Phillip Simelane, shortly after he had been released from prison.

But the report published this week by NHS England concluded a series of opportunities to treat Simelane had been missed that may have prevented Christina’s death.

While it agreed with initial conclusions in a 2014 report that Christina’s death was not predictable, it sets out 25 recommendations to Birmingham and Black Country health, prison and police authorities in a bid to prevent such tragedies in future.