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927 - That's how many registered sex offenders live in South Yorkshire
MORE than 920 known sex offenders are living in South Yorkshire - and 177 are so dangerous they are on the Sex Offenders' Register for life, The Star can reveal today.
South Yorkshire Police have revealed there are 927 sex offenders in the county following a request by The Star under the Freedom of Information Act.
The force have refused to say how many offenders live in Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley or Doncaster fearing it could increase the chances of them being identified and of innocent members of the public being wrongly accused.
But police have admitted losing track of one offender who has gone to ground and two who were ordered to register by the courts never did within the 14 days allowed.
Three are also known to have moved abroad.
Police say there are no sex offenders receiving personal police protection or living in safe houses in the region and none have ever been given new identities for their own protection.
The force claim in other parts of the country the release of more specific information about sex offenders has led to public disorder.
Notorious sex offenders include Sheffield man Robert Ibbotson, who was put on the Sex Offenders Register for five years after being branded a danger to children.
The 50-year-old download nearly 1,600 horrific internet photos in his city centre garden shed of children as young as three being sexually abused.
He was sentenced to a three-year community rehabilitation order last month.
Inspector Andrew Higgins, of South Yorkshire Police's Freedom of Information Unit, said: "One of the objectives of offenders being registered is that it allows the appropriate agencies to monitor them.
"If such individuals were identified or even were at risk of so being they would abscond.
"They would be at liberty to commit further offences with relative impunity as they would be difficult to trace.
"The public tend to be more concerned not with actual crime, but the fear of crime. Releasing this information would exacerbate that fear."
But a Stannington woman is calling for the policy to be reviewed after a man who befriended her family while on bail for a series of sex offences was jailed for 11 years.
She said she was appalled the man was allowed to live in a communal block of flats near two schools without anyone being informed of his pending trial.
He was jailed in May and put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life after being convicted of 22 counts of indecent assault and five charges of rape.
The woman said: "When we read in the papers that this man had been jailed and worked out that he had been living in our community while on bail and through his trial I felt physically sick.
"It's because I knew my daughter had spent some time with him because we allowed him into our lives, believing he was a good friend.
"I had to question my daughter to establish whether anything happened and I am satisfied that it didn't, but the fact that she was in a position where it could have done terrifies me.
"I have written to Sheffield Council about my concerns and whether anything can be done to prevent this kind of situation arising again. Can't a hostel be set up where people facing sex offences live and have to abide by certain conditions so that people know where they are?
"I know everyone is innocent until proven guilty and housing everyone in the same place could make it a target, but security arrangements could protect everyone."
Surjan Tiwana, area manager for Sheffield Homes - which manages Sheffield's council housing - said: "The property was let several months before the tenant was convicted of these offences.
"We fully sympathise with the family concerned, but it is up to the courts to decide on a defendant's bail conditions . They determine the risk a person poses, and if there is any reason why they should not be bailed at a particular address.
"Sheffield Homes is not routinely informed of charges against tenants."
Under the Bail Act 1976, everyone has a right to unconditional bail while awaiting trial and courts can only withhold it after hearing from prosecution and defence lawyers.
They can also be denied bail for their own protection.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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