A CONVICTED paedophile who used to live in the house where Leah Croucher cops found human remains was in JAIL when she vanished, it is understood.
The paedo lived at the property 10 minutes away from Leah’s home – but he was no longer there in February 2019, when Leah vanished on her way to work.
He was instead caged at HMP Littlehey, Cambs, reports claim.
And he wasn’t released until September 2019, months after the 19-year-old’s last sighting, it is understood.
The convicted paedo – who appeared on a national TV crime show – was locked up in 2017 for sexual offences against two teenagers over a two-year period.
On Monday, human remains alongside a rucksack and personal items belonging to Leah were found at a house on Loxbeare Drive, Milton Keynes, Bucks.
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The paedophile used to live at the address but wasn’t there when Leah went missing. Locals say the property has been empty since 2019.
Cops searching for Leah today admitted they didn’t search the house during their 2019 hunt.
Instead they “knocked and dropped leaflets through the letterbox” .
Leah – who vanished on her way to work in February 2019 – lived just 10 minutes away from the £500k property and walked past it every day.
It is 500 yards from where she was last seen.
A Thames Valley Police spokesperson said: “Monday was the first time we were alerted to this property by a member of the public in connection with this investigation.
“As such, we can confirm that the house has never been entered as part of the original investigation.
“However, as an address in Furzton, the address was visited as part our house to house enquiries as part of the investigation, during which we visited more than 4,000 addresses.
“There was no response at the property and as such leaflets would have been dropped through the letterbox.”
It is understood the property is owned by a Kuwaiti businesswoman who let it out but she has no connection to the current police inquiry.
Cleaners are understood to have been working upstairs when they spotted the hidden remains, sparking a police search of the house.
Jill Davey, who lives close to the house, said: “Leah used to walk past the house every day. I would see her walking to work.
“It just sickens me. The police were meant to have searched all the houses around here, but they obviously didn’t do their job properly.”
Leah was last seen on CCTV just after 8.15am on February 15, 2019, as she headed to her job at a finance company.
The taekwondo fan was described by loved ones as “very quiet” and “not really an outgoing type of person”, preferring to read fantasy fiction or watch DVDs in her room to nights out at the pub.
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Nine months after Leah’s disappearance, her heartbroken brother Hayden Croucher, 24, was discovered by his mother and sister Jade hanged at his flat and later died in hospital.
In a statement on the anniversary of Leah’s disappearance last February, her parents posted on social media: “Each day is torture. Each day feels like an eternity of pain and despair.”
