A PREDATOR who strangled and suffocated a five-year-old, molested her corpse and dumped her in a creek is back on the streets after quietly being released from a secure hospital.

Tim Kosowicz, 22 at the time, dodged a murder conviction for killing little Chloe Hoson after doctors said he was mentally ill.

Instead of jail he has been held at tranquil Morisset Hospital, on the banks of idyllic Lake Macquarie near Sydney.

And he has been allowed out on day trips, mingling freely with the public who had no idea of his horrifying past.

Now less than 16 years after the crime that shocked a nation, Kosowicz has slid back into society unnoticed.

Shockingly, the reasons for his release or even who made the decision cannot be reported because of restrictive legislation in Australia.

The Newcastle News reports Kosowicz walked free from Morisset Hospital last month.

He had previously been allowed to leave the hospital for day trips and to visit family but was required to return to the facility at night.

Kosowicz will continue to be under some arms-length supervision and will undergo random checks relating to the Child Protection Register.

But he will live at an undisclosed location where his history will not be known.

Peter Rolfe of campaign group Support After Murder said he was gobsmacked at Kosowicz’s release.

He said: “I find it absolutely amazing that he has been released without any warnings to the general public. Who is to say he will not commit another crime.”

It comes despite a chilling warning by New South Wales Supreme Court Justice David Patten that Kosowicz is "a plausible liar" who killed Chloe after being freed from psychiatric care.

The judge, who found Kosowicz not guilty of Chloe’s murder through mental illness, said after the 2005 case he found it “difficult to escape the conclusion that the community failed Chloe."

Detectives found the bag containing blood-soaked clothing and sheets

He said: “Practitioners had known for years that the accused was a habitual and heavy user of illegal drugs; that he was mentally ill; that he was subject to florid psychiatric episodes in which he was aggressive and dangerous to himself and others; and that he was recalcitrant when it came to following regimens of medication laid down for him.

“Despite all this, he was repeatedly let back into the community after short periods of treatment.

“The outcome was catastrophic in the extreme."

In the most chilling warning, Justice Patten later added: “No doubt the authorities will take account of the above mentioned matters when, in due course, they consider whether the accused should be released back into the community and will also take into account the horrific circumstances of Chloe’s death and that the accused is quite capable of being a plausible liar."

Kosowicz’s own family have said he was a “ticking time bomb” before he killed Chloe.

His trial heard of more than four years of significant mental illness leading up to Chloe’s death, including numerous arrests and visits to hospital where he spoke of voices in his head.

The psychotic episodes continued and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia with threats of violence just weeks before he killed Chloe.

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Kosowicz initially lied to cops but then admitted he brutally assaulted her after she followed his cat into his cabin at a caravan park in Sydney’s west.

He graphically recounted in an interview how he strangled her then placed two bags over her head because he couldn’t kill her and sexually assaulted her after she was dead.

He hid her in a sports bag along with bloody sheets as Chloe’s distraught family and emergency services frantically searched for her.

The next morning CCTV show him lugging the bag 200 yards to where he dumped her body next to a river.

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