Riot fears over identifying convicted paedophiles on the internet

13 April 2012

Fears were growing last night that a decision to publish the names and pictures of five convicted paedophiles on the Internet could spark a vigilante backlash.

Senior police and probation officers fear a repeat of the riots six years ago after a newspaper began 'naming and shaming' dozens of sex offenders across Britain.

Yesterday, in an unprecedented move, the newly-formed Child Exploitation and On-Line Protection Centre published images of five convicted sex offenders on the 'Crimestoppers Most Wanted' website.

They are not men wanted for unsolved crimes, rather they are offenders who have already served punishment and gone missing after failing to comply with restrictions on their movements.

Breaching these so-called 'notification requirements' - which are conditions of their placement on the Sex Offenders Register - is an arrestable offence punishable by up to five years in prison.

But a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, which has consistently opposed such tactics - said that its stance remained unchanged.

"Our concern is that this could drive sex offenders away from supervision and into hiding," said the spokesman.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the Probation Union NAPO, also sounded a note of caution and said he feared that innocent members of the public could be wrongly identified as paedophiles.

"People who are already missing may further go to ground if they think that the public may engage in vigilante action." he said.

But Jim Gamble, chief executive of CEOP, said that any vigilante activity would be "robustly" dealt with.

He said: "I cannot emphasise strongly enough the need for the public to act responsibly if they believe they know the location of a sought offender.

"They must make immediate reports of sightings so that the police can take appropriate action. Any vigilante activity will be robustly dealt with and is likely to constitute a criminal offence, resulting in arrest and prosecution. "We believe this new site will be an invaluable addition to the intelligence tool kit when compiling information about child sex offenders.

"What we want to do is maximise every available opportunity to locate those offenders who are actually 'missing' in order to protect children, young people and communities."

The five men named on the website are Alexander Colin Dalgleish, aged 30-35, Gordon Stewart, 25-30, Paul Turner (also known as Paul Francis or Geddes), 50-55, Joshua Karney, 25-30, who also goes by five other names, and Kamil Krawiec, 26.

Dalgleish, a former entertainments manager at a North Wales caravan site was jailed for nine months in 2001 for having sex with one 13-year-old girl and indecently assaulting another.

Polish-born Krawiec vanished earlier this year after getting a 10 months suspended jail sentence with the condition he was supervised by probation officers. He sexually assaulted a boy of eight.

Mr Gamble said that anyone who failed to comply with their supervision requirements had effectively lost their right to anonymity. Acpo's concern stems from the events of 2000 following the murder of Sussex schoolgirl Sarah Payne.

In the wake of her abduction and killing, the News of the World newspaper launched a high profile campaign of 'naming and shaming' convicted paedophiles.

It demanded the introduction of 'Sarah's Law' which would give parents the right to access information about local sex offenders.

But the campaign coincided with a series of riots in Portsmouth where residents were convinced that paedophiles were living on a local estate.

In addition, mistakes were made in the coverage and a paediatrician's house was attacked by a mob mistaking him for a paedophile.

But Mr Gamble insisted that the aim of publishing names was simply to locate missing offenders.

He said: "It is not about publishing details of all sex offenders, as this could drive the large number of compliant offenders underground and away from effective management programmes.

"What we want to do is maximise every available opportunity to locate those offenders who are actually 'missing' in order to protect children, young people and communities."

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