Jaycee Lee Dugard to sue government for neglect

Jaycee Lee Dugard, the schoolgirl who was kidnapped and held captive for 18 years, has filed a lawsuit against the US government alleging that her ordeal was the direct result of shoddy oversight by federal parole officers.

Supervision of the convicted rapist, Phillip Garrido, who forced her to live in sheds and tents in his garden, was woefully inadequate, says Ms Dugard, whose complaint alleges that the "gross neglect borders on virtual complicity".

Garrido was recently sentenced to 431 years in prison, after pleading guilty to charges of kidnapping Ms Dugard, who was then 11, in 1991. He repeatedly raped his captive, and fathered two children by her.

The crime went undiscovered for years, despite the fact that Garrido was a registered sex offender. Parole officers visited his home on a weekly basis but never twigged that he was keeping a hostage. Ms Dugard has already been paid $20m by the state of California, which was responsible for Garrido's supervision from 1999 onwards. Her claim from the federal government is for "unspecified" damages.