rise in sex offenders Sexual Abuser

October 2009 Shocking rise in sex offenders THE number of sex offenders living in Cornwall and Devon has risen by 62 per cent to more than 1,000, according to startling new statistics.

The latest figures reveal that people forced to sign on the sex offenders register because of their vile crimes stands at 1,021 across the two counties.

But what makes the revelation so shocking is the rise from 637 just a few years ago in 2002/2003.

The sex offenders register was set up to allow police and probation services to monitor people convicted of the worst type of crimes.

Those on it must notify the police if they change their name or address and some have to reveal if they plan to travel outside the UK.

The latest round of figures, gathered for the year 2008-2009, reveal that 437 sex offenders live in Devon, 227 live in Plymouth and 357 live in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

In Plymouth alone, the rise from the previous year was 10 per cent, from 206.Other parts of the force area saw smaller rises of 4 per cent.

In Devon, the number of sex offenders increased from 415 last year, and in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, it rose from 341.

The current numbers mean there are now 64 sex offenders per 100,000 head of population in Devon and Cornwall as opposed to 61 in the previous 12-month period.

The figures also reveal that the number of sex pests in the force area who were charged or cautioned for breaching their notification requirements – such as keeping police informed when they move house – rose last year from 44 to 52.

Robert Menary, head of Devon and Cornwall’s Probation Service, said: “There is no reason for people to be scared.” He added that a change in the law in 2003 had broadened the type of crimes which would put people on the register.

It also lengthened the number of years they would be monitored.

“Since 2003, all sex offenders are required to sign on the register, but before then, it was only people who had been imprisoned (for sex crimes) for more than 10 years, which is at the very serious end of the scale.

“Now people are put on the sex offenders register for longer and it is not unusual for them to be on for five to 10 years for something like indecent exposure or downloading pornography, which previously they would not have been required to sign on the register for.” Det Supt John Clements, head of public protection at Devon and Cornwall Police, said policing had changed to meet the challenge of dealing with Internet sex offences, such as paedophiles grooming children via chat rooms.

“We have become more sophisticated in our ways of dealing with sex offenders who use the Internet,” he said.

Police are also increasingly using special Sex Offenders Prevention Orders, which increase the length of time someone must remain on the register because of ongoing concerns over their behaviour.

He said the overwhelming majority on the sex offenders register were men.

Plymouth nursery worker Vanessa George, who will next month be sentenced for a string of sex crimes against babies and toddlers and is expected to be ordered to sign the sex offenders register on her release, would be one of the few women.

The sex offenders register had protected people: “We have a system in place which means that we can manage and monitor 1,021 individuals who have been convicted of sex crimes.” Kim Stevenson, a senior lecturer at Plymouth University’s School of Law, said there were simply more sexual offences on the statute books now.

The 2003 Sexual Offences Act created a swathe of new charges, which included grooming children on the Internet or abuse of trust, used to prosecute teachers or carers who had inappropriate relations with someone under 18.

“These are now specific offences which in the past would have been prosecuted under something like unlawful sexual intercourse and would have been harder to prove,” she said.

“Grooming a child, for example, was something that simply did not exist as an offence until 2003.” She said the “vague” laws, which previously assumed only a female could be victim of a sexual assault, had been changed.

“There are a lot more offences floating around now which would result in people being put on the sexual offences register that previously were not specific.

“The new Act made everything gender neutral as well, which has made it easier to prosecute.”