BLACKPOOL AND WIRRAL POLICE RECOGNIZE DEAN BARNES AS A DANGEROUS OFFENDER AND PUBLIC RISK

In January 2012, The Gazette expressed gratitude to its readers for aiding law enforcement in recapturing Dean Barnes, a known sex offender and danger to the community. Barnes had gone missing from his residence on Layton Road, Layton, in November of the previous year, prompting police to seek public assistance through the newspaper.

Police officials stated that 50-year-old Barnes, who had served a three-year sentence for sexual offenses involving a girl under 13, was a significant threat and had violated the Sexual Offences Act by not informing authorities of his whereabouts. Barnes pleaded guilty to failing to comply with notification requirements after being discovered living with an unaware woman. This week, Preston Crown Court sentenced him to 10 months in prison.

Detective Inspector Tony Baxter of Blackpool’s Public Protection Unit commented: “Thanks to information from a Gazette reader, a dangerous man is now off the streets. He had moved without notifying us and entered into a relationship with a woman who had children. When individuals have conditions of residence and neglect to inform us, it raises serious concerns and increases the risk to the public.”

Born in London, Barnes was previously sentenced in Liverpool Crown Court in 2006 to three years for sexual assault, abduction, and possession of indecent images of a minor. In August 2010, he was arrested in Blackpool for failing to register his address after his release from custody, receiving a suspended sentence and two years of supervision. Blackpool police officers visited Barnes at his Layton Road home until August last year, but when they returned in November, he was no longer there, having moved.

An appeal for information was published in The Gazette in December. Subsequently, Barnes was sighted on Corporation Street in Blackpool and arrested on December 12. He was sentenced to an additional seven months for failure to notify police of his change of address and three months for breaching a previous suspended sentence for similar offenses. Judge Norman Wright emphasized to Barnes: “You understand the importance of notification requirements, which are tools used by authorities to reduce risks, especially to children. Failing to inform us is a serious offense.”

Back in December 2011, police issued an appeal for help in locating Barnes, now described as a risk to the public. His last confirmed sighting was in Irvine, Scotland, with links to Ayrshire and Southport. Barnes was last living in Blackpool, and authorities urged residents to remain vigilant.

Previously, in December 2009, police classified Barnes as a predatory paedophile in Wirral, who had groomed a 12-year-old girl and sent love letters from prison to her sister. Barnes, then 48, had been imprisoned in November 2006 for various sex offenses against the girl, including taking indecent images, kidnapping, and sexual assault. His partner discovered videos he took of the girl exiting a bath. The victim’s father described Barnes as “pure evil,” stating he groomed his daughter for over two years.

After his release in 2008, Barnes was jailed again for 11 months for threatening correspondence with the girl’s 15-year-old sister. Authorities put him on the police “most wanted” list after he failed to register his movements and evaded detection for months; he was last registered in Bury, Lancashire, in October 2008. Described as white, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with light-brown, receding hair, authorities relied on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre’s (Ceop) Most Wanted website to seek public assistance.

In February 2008, Barnes was again sent back to prison for targeting a 15-year-old girl from behind bars. Despite being jailed for previous offenses, he sent threatening love letters to her from his cell. Just four days after his earlier three-year sentence ended in February 2008, he was sentenced to 11 more months after admitting to breaching a sexual offenders prevention order and related charges. The girl’s father condemned the leniency, emphasizing Barnes’s continued predatory behavior and impact on his family.

Barnes’s criminal history portrays a pattern of grooming, sexual assault, and ongoing offenses even after incarceration, prompting law enforcement and the public to remain vigilant for his whereabouts.