This Is Guernsey

By Tom Edwards

POLICE say a sex offenders register would not give the protection people think it would. Islanders have demanded one after convicted paedophile James Brehaut was released and a victim had spoken of her abuse as a child.

The Home Department has admitted it does not know when such a register will be in place.

But Superintendent Ian Morellec (pictured) said it would not in itself protect people from paedophiles and rapists.

‘The fact that we do not have a sex offenders register in Guernsey should not alarm people because the island and its community are so small,’ he said.

‘Not having one does not, in my opinion, inhibit the effective monitoring of locally resident offenders.

‘A sex offenders register does not itself make people safe, it merely places certain reporting requirements upon offenders. These requirements include notifying the police where they live, any other addresses where they regularly reside and details of any travel outside the UK.’

A UK-registered sex offender who comes here for three or more days is supposed to tell their local police before they leave. But if a paedophile chooses not to do that, they would not be detected upon arrival in Guernsey.

Supt Morellec admitted that the potential existed for a sex offender to slip through the net and live in the island.

‘The UK legislation is thought to probably be the toughest regime in Europe for identifying sex offenders, but it is in part at least dependent upon offenders complying with the various notification requirements,’ he said.

He said the local force was doing its best to protect the public from paedophiles in the absence of tougher sex offender laws.

Supt Morellec said information sharing with the Probation Service and the prison was the driving force behind current tactics.

Absolute confidence for the community can never be assured, regardless of the legislation in place, he added.

‘While locally we do not have the legislation that provides for a statutory framework and regime around the monitoring of sex offenders, as in the UK, we work with other departments on a case-by-case basis, providing a level of support appropriate to the risk posed by each individual,’ he said.

Photographs of paedophiles are not published because this is considered by agencies working with individuals returning to society to be counterproductive.

But that is not to say there is no disclosure of photographs at all.

Supt Morellec said if offenders failed to comply with notification procedures and could not be traced, a risk assessment was carried out which could result in their photograph appearing on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre’s ‘Most Wanted’ site.

‘There is also scope for limited disclosure of a photograph of an individual when, following a risk assessment, that individual is considered as presenting a risk to a specific person or group,’ said Supt Morellec.

‘For example, such a disclosure might be to a particular school master or leader of a youth group.’