Residents in Perth’s south-eastern suburbs have been warned that posting the address of notorious West Australian paedophile Bradley Pen Dragon on social media is a criminal offence.
Worried and angry community members have expressed their concerns in private Facebook groups after discovering the 62-year-old serial child sex offender was living near them after his release from prison this week.
Bradley Pen Dragon was arrested just two days after being released from prison in 2017, after accessing child exploitation material from a computer at a Northbridge backpacker hostel. Credit:Nine News Perth
But the posts have since been removed, and there are warnings that posting any information about Dragon’s whereabouts on social media was a criminal offence.
Dragon has spent half his life behind bars on child sex abuse charges, and is subject to more than 60 strict conditions while living in the WA community.
He was given housing upon his release, and people soon discovered he would be living in their postcode after searching the WA Sex Offenders Registry.
In one online group related to the area Dragon would be residing, a concerned member called for others to “please keep your children safe. Released into the [suppressed] area,” followed by a link to a story covering his release.
It was shared to other local groups and met with outrage, sparking further posts.
An admin on one of the pages warned people to be careful with what they were posting, after receiving notifications from Facebook that comments had been deleted for violating the site’s community rules.
On the sex offenders registry website, it states it is a criminal offence to “misuse the information made publicly available by this website”.
Misuse of information includes engaging in conduct that will create, promote or increase animosity toward or harassment of a person identified, or any publication, distribution or display of photographs or personal information without written approval from police minister.
There is also a court suppression order in place, banning any publication of Dragon’s proposed address.
The posts were deleted on Thursday afternoon.
Criminal lawyer John Hammond said anyone sharing the postcode could be in contempt of court and most likely fined, but he was more concerned about vigilante action.
“The police would have to make the call to press charges, and my view is that this would be unlikely because it would be such an unpopular prosecution, although I would still advise against posting his address,” he said.
“However I do have concerns about vigilante action. A few people may think they can take the law into their own hands and go after someone like Dragon.”
Radio 6PR journalist Gareth Parker also issued a warning to listeners on Thursday, and said: “my fear is that people don’t know, and could find themselves in a fair bit of strife.”
“I have no idea if WA Police intend to investigate this … but the law of the land is that you could go to jail for up to 10 years,” he said.
“I think that’s a stupid law. I think you should be able to share this information.”
WA Premier Mark McGowan was not concerned about vigilante action, despite comments on social media, but labelled Dragon a “a very strange and offensive person,” who he would rather was still locked up.
“The Director of Public Prosecutions applied to the court to keep him in jail for longer, the court decided to release him,” he said.
“The police will watch him very, very closely … he’s the sort of person who they’ll crack down on immediately.
“Sixty-two conditions apply to him including an ankle bracelet. If he breaches the conditions he will be held to account.”
Dragon’s case would not be the first where a community have tracked down a convicted paedophile’s address.
In 2016, convicted child rapist Ryan Trevor Clegg was bailed to an address in North Fremantle.
The community soon figured out he was living just a few doors down from a childcare centre and less than 100 metres from a primary school and revolted against the living arrangement.
Clegg was soon taken back into custody.
Dragon served a 13-year term in Thailand for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and was then deported to New South Wales, before moving to Perth and committing further offending.
Then, two days after he was released from prison in 2017, he was arrested again for searching child exploitation material on a computer at a backpacker hostel in Northbridge.
He maintains his belief that his attraction to children is natural, but police have said they will be watching Dragon closely.
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