Sex offenders will NOT be able to change their name or gender in bid to close loophole that allows predators to evade register
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Suella Braverman will today announce plans for a lifetime ban on sex offenders changing their name or gender in a bid to close a loophole that allows predators to evade the sex offences register.
Personal details kept by other agencies including HM Passport Office, HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the DVLA will be merged with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
A change to a convicted sex offender’s details at any of those agencies would alert the DBS and they will risk prosecution. Currently, all registered sex offenders must tell their local police force within three days after changing their name.
During a speech at the Conservative Party Conference, the Home Secretary will propose a new law that would make it a new offence for anyone convicted of a sex-related crime of changing their identity, The Times reported.
There are several potential loopholes that could be exploited under the proposed new ban that the Home Office is attempting to address.
Suella Braverman – see today at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester – wants to ban sex offenders from changing their name or gender
One is that sex offenders looking to evade detection could simply abandon all their existing accounts with government agencies and avoid updating their details.
Government sources said they were working with departments such as DWP and HMRC on ways to detect suspicious individuals who register with them despite having no previous record.
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There are also concerns that a blanket ban on changing personal details would violate the Equalities Act if the individual was doing so for religious purposes or to change their gender.
Figures show 16,298 registered sex offenders were charged for failing to tell police they had changed their name, address or other personal details between 2015 and 2020.
Another 1,641 sex offenders were cautioned or convicted for doing so in the year to March 2022.
In some cases, paedophiles banned for life from working with children used their new identities to get a job in schools and homes where they committed further offences.
Many sex offenders have used an easy deed poll process, which takes 15 minutes to complete online for a fee as little as £25.
Those who have changed their names under the current laws include Rose West, Ian Huntley and paedophile teacher Ben Lewis.
Vanessa George, Britain’s worst female paedophile responsible for sexually assaulting as many as 64 children at a nursery, has reverted to her maiden name of Vanessa Sylvia Marks.
Vanessa George, Britain’s worst female paedophile responsible for sexually assaulting as many as 64 children at a nursery, has reverted has to her maiden name of Vanessa Sylvia Marks
Sex offender Terry Price conducted offences over three decades before altering his name five times in an attempt to cover up his crimes
Sex offender Terry Price conducted offences over three decades before altering his name five times in an attempt to cover up his crimes.
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Price’s victims include a mother named Della Wright, who was repeatedly raped by him from the age of six in the Eighties.
After having a family of her own, Ms Wright found the courage to report the crimes to police. She found, to her horror, that Price had changed his name to Robert McEwan.
Ahead of his 2016 trial, Ms Wright’s attacker had switched to an even newer name, Mr Mac. It meant he was unable to enter a plea because the charges were against Robert McEwan.
The court process was disrupted for several weeks as the matter was untangled.
Mr Mac (aka Terry Price, Robert McEwan and a string of other aliases) was convicted in November 2017 of raping Ms Wright. He was sentenced to 22 years in custody.
Ms Wright waived her right to anonymity to highlight the loophole her attacker used to delay justice.
Another paedophile, Steven Harrison, changed his name to that of ex-Liverpool football star Steve Gerrard, before scouring dating websites using the bogus identity and started relationships with mothers across Britain who had sport-loving sons.
Paedophile Steven Harrison (left) changed his name to that of ex-Liverpool football star Steve Gerrard before scouring dating websites using the bogus identity and starting relationships with mothers across Britain who had sport-loving sons. Michael Joslin, (right) another released paedophile, changed his name by deed poll and moved in with a mother of two children
Photos found in 2017 by detectives on his laptop showed him grinning in family poses alongside women and their children, some in football kits given to them by ‘Gerrard’.
The ruse was discovered when a woman in Bedfordshire became suspicious over the tissue of lies Harrison put out to cover up his previous convictions.
Michael Joslin, another released paedophile, changed his name by deed poll and moved in with a mother of two children aged nine and five before being caught with sordid sex abuse images on his computer.
He was calling himself Michael Glover and using a driving licence and bank cards in that name. While the youngster’s mother was in hospital, said prosecutors at a 2018 court hearing in Maidstone in Kent, ‘he even bathed’ them.
The plan for an outright ban has cross-party support and is backed by victims’ groups.
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