CHRIS BROWN AND SHOCKING CHILD SEX OFFENDER INCIDENT IN STAFFORDSHIRE

A distressed mother has publicly criticized both her landlord and local law enforcement after a registered child sex offender, Chris Brown, was dispatched to assist with her household move within Staffordshire. The incident has raised serious questions about background checks and the safety measures in place during such operations.

The mother, known publicly only as Laurie, recounted that Brown was initially recruited to help facilitate her move between properties owned by Aspire Housing, a prominent housing provider in North Staffordshire. It was only after Brown sent a Facebook friend request to her daughter that Laurie discovered his true identity as a convicted sex offender. This revelation caused her great alarm and prompted her to scrutinize the actions of both Aspire and Staffordshire Police.

Laurie expressed her outrage regarding the response from the authorities. She explained that the following day after the social media contact, she contacted the police. The officers responded by visiting her home and inspecting Brown's devices, but Laurie claimed that their investigation was superficial. She told StokeonTrentLive, "I rang them and then later on they came back to me to say they’d been round to check his devices. That told me something was up, so I asked if that meant what I thought it meant, but they wouldn’t say. So we looked him up on Google and found out about his court cases."

She further criticized the police’s handling of the case, saying, “They just seem to have taken his word for it and left it at that. It’s disgusting.” Her distrust was fueled further by the police’s assertion that no offences had been committed by Brown at the time of the visit. Staffordshire Police confirmed they investigated Brown and found no breach of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) during their visit.

Brown was working for Bailey and Cooper Removals, a local moving company owned by his stepfather, at the time he was assigned to Laurie’s household. Laurie claimed that her concern was heightened after the police visit, which she described as dismissive. She stated, “All they would say was that they’d been to see him and that, as far as they were concerned, everything was okay. They were going on about having a duty of care to him and all that.”

Chris Brown’s criminal record is well-documented. He was subjected to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in 2017 when he was 29, after serving two years in prison for exchanging explicit images with a 13-year-old boy. Brown remains on the Sex Offenders Register and was in court again in August 2021 for breaching his SHPO by deleting Snapchat messages. During that court appearance, he claimed he believed the girl he was communicating with was over 18, a statement strongly contested by Laurie.

Laurie, a mother of five children, expressed her disbelief at the police’s justification. “Why would anyone impose an order that only protected boys, not girls as well? These orders should be made with the protection of all children in mind,” she questioned. Despite this, Staffordshire Police clarified that Brown’s SHPO at the time only applied to contact with boys under 18, a condition set by the court. They also confirmed that the order was not extended when Brown was found to have breached it in 2021.

In their official statement, police representatives explained that they had visited Brown in August 2022 to conduct inquiries and spoke with Laurie later that day. They stated, "No criminal offences were identified as part of our enquiries. We can only base our investigations on the evidence we have available and within the constraints of the court order issued, this particular incident does not meet the criteria for the breach of that order."

When approached about the incident, Brown offered a different account. He stated, "With regard to the matter last August – yes, in the course of helping out on the job the woman and daughter started conversations with me and the daughter gave me the impression by what she said that she was over 18."

Regarding the hiring process, Aspire Housing confirmed that the contractor responsible for the move did not undergo background checks, citing the nature of the work as not requiring such scrutiny. Jon Dickin, Head of Neighbourhoods at Aspire, assured the public that they took the matter seriously, had supported the affected family, and would not be using the contractor again. Aspire expressed regret over the incident's impact.

The removal firm Bailey and Cooper Removals issued a statement emphasizing that they were short-staffed on the day Brown was involved and were unaware of his criminal history. They also assured the public that Brown had not worked for them since and reaffirmed their high standards, stating, "We would never hire someone like that intentionally."

This incident has cast a spotlight on the procedures and safeguards in place when assigning workers to assist with vulnerable families, especially in cases involving known offenders. The community remains concerned about how such individuals are employed and monitored, and the incident continues to spark debates over child safety protocols in Staffordshire.