KILLER Nicola Faughey who stabbed a woman to death in a frenzied attack was a "time bomb" waiting to go off, the victim's family claimed today.

They spoke out after an independent inquiry ruled that the killing of Joanne Whitelegg, aged 35, had been impossible to predict.

The inquiry report into the Valentine's Day 2000 killing, when 16-year-old Faughey stabbed Miss Whitelegg 27 times at her Farnworth home, said agencies involved in the teenager's care should be "commended not criticised."

But the family have rejected the findings and are now considering legal action. Miss Whitelegg's sister Sally Pickering said: "I think we owe it to society to pursue some way or another the failures in this case. We were prepared for the details in the report to be horrific but not as bad as they were. Officials repeated parrot-fashion to us that it wasn't possible to predict but we couldn't believe they were saying it."

And she asked: "How would they like her living next door to them?"

Her views were echoed by her sister Rosemary Whitelegg who said: "I am shocked by the report because we said all along that Faughey was a bomb waiting to go off. There's a great fear something like this could happen again."

Noreen Malone, Joanne's mother, said: "We are extremely disappointed and lack confidence that this sort of atrocity will not occur again."

But the inquiry was emphatic in its verdict that no one could have predicted Faughey -- while a "problematic" and "disturbed" individual -- would become a killer.

Inquiry chairman Martin Manby said there was nothing in Faughey's behaviour which could have marked her out as especially dangerous and said much of her supervision and care had been an example of "good practice."

The report revealed that Miss Whitelegg had expressed her concerns about the behaviour of the youngsters living at the unit in Wentworth Close, Farnworth, 18 months before her death.

Faughey lived in the care home next door but one and had been receiving psychiatric treatment. Miss Whitelegg urged the closure of the unit almost a year and and a half before Faughey stabbed her.

Sally Pickering said she wanted the issue of how someone with Faughey's background -- which included self-harm and aggressive behaviour -- could be placed in a residential area.

But the council and health agencies alike are adamant that Faughey's case was so unusual, and the fatal stabbing so out of the blue, that even with the benefit of hindsight it is impossible to see what they could have done differently.

Lynne Jones, assistant director of social services, stressed the highly unusual nature of the case.

She said: "It was an exceptional situation and everyone involved is still shocked by it. I've worked in child care for 28 years and I've never heard of any case like this anywhere.

"It's unusually not a situation where you can place blame and say 'what if we had done this differently?' There simply wasn't anything to make her stand out as a risk compared with other demanding young people in accommodation.

"This is a very unusual report in that it praises the standard of care that she received as excellent."

Miss Whitelegg complained again about Faughey's aggressive and provocative behaviour in February and March 1999 but did not respond when asked five times for further information.

Home staff warned Faughey about her behaviour and after that it is said she caused much less trouble and her mental condition was considered "stable" when she last saw a therapist three days before the stabbing.

The report revealed that Faughey, like many other children in council residential units was well-known to police for absconding from the home and aggressive behaviour. But she was never charged with any offence.

"Residential staff found her behaviour provocative and intimidating rather than physically threatening and this view was shared by her nurse therapists," the report says.

Yet the inquiry found there simply was not enough evidence for Faughey to have been sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Jan Hutchinson, director of public health for Bolton Primary Care Trust, echoed the conclusion that the killing was unavoidable.

She said: "This is desperately sad, my heart goes out to the victim's family. But tragedies do happen even when you have done everything you possibly could to prevent it."

Dr Chris Harrison, clinical director at Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority, said: "While it can do little to ease the pain of the families affected by this tragic incident, it is reasurring to note that this inquiry did not find evidence of failures of inter-agency communication so often seen in similar inquiries.

"I would like to pay tribute to the staff who worked so hard to support this troubled young woman."

The inquiry - standard practice in a case involving homicides committed by people having mental health treatment - made a number of recommendations.

It found there was a gap in care for 16 to 17 year olds making the transition between children's and adult mental health services although this was not thought to have been a critical factor in Faughey's case.

Bolton Primary Care Trust has since appointed an extra physciatrist responsible for identifying children who need such help.

Other recommendations include closer scrutiny of whether youngsters who harm themselves could become a risk to others.