BURNLEY SEX OFFENDER REFUSES TO ACCEPT HIS CONVICTION

A sex offender named Bashrat Ali, aged 53, was convicted of sexual activity with a minor under 16 and sentenced to six years in prison in 2017. He was released in 2020 but was recalled to prison shortly after for non-compliance and served the remaining three years of his sentence. Earlier this year, upon his release, he went to Burnley police station claiming he was homeless. Normally, sex offenders without a fixed address are required to register at the police station every seven days, but Ali failed to do so, which constituted a breach of his notification requirements. Ali refused to accept he was on the sex offender’s register and stated he would not be registering an address because he did not want police to visit him. He was subsequently arrested and charged with breaching his notification duties. In court, he pleaded not guilty. During the trial in the magistrates’ court, Ali maintained that he believed he should not be on the register and claimed he should not have been convicted for the crimes committed in 2017. His lawyer, Bob Elias, said: “It’s his choice now, if he will not obey he will just continue to be recalled and receive custodial sentences.” Judge Simon Medland KC responded: “It’s a matter for you whether you accept your conviction or not, but the fact is you were convicted, the fact is there was no appeal made against the conviction, the fact is you should comply with these requirements, not only to protect society but to help protect yourself from any wrongful accusations. You have solidly refused to comply with them and in the past your attitude has resulted in you serving not three years but the whole six years of your sentence, and at some point, you have to come to the realisation that this is not voluntary, it’s an obligation to comply with these notifications. If not, sentences will be passed and they will only get longer, and longer, and longer. Comply and register and do what you need to do, and no one will bother you, but if you don’t you will be the loser.” Ali, formerly residing at Villers Drive, Oldham, was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment.