Actually, sex offenders are registered in the UK. But the system has loopholes, as a BBC report now reveals: hundreds of sex offenders evade police control by changing their names. The House of Commons will discuss a new law later this week.
Hundreds of sex offenders have disappeared from police radar in Britain, according to BBC research. Between 2019 and 2021 alone, 729 perpetrators were missing or wanted, the public broadcaster reported, citing data from the police authorities. The main reason for this is legal name changes, said MP Sarah Champion from the opposition Labor party. Almost 1,500 people informed the authorities about a name change.
Current law requires that once an individual is placed on the sex offenders registry, they must provide the police with certain personal information, including their name, any aliases they may have, their current address and their passport details. She then has to visit a police station every year in order to comply with the obligation to register and to inform the authorities of any change in her personal details. If any of this information changes, the police must be notified within three days, otherwise there is a risk of up to five years in prison. Police Commissioner Michelle Skeer, who is responsible for handling sex offenders nationally, said that while anyone can change their name, these additional legal obligations are closely monitored.
Scores of abuse survivors are now calling for the law to be tightened, which would ultimately ban sex offenders from changing their names once they’re on the registry. On Thursday, the British House of Commons will discuss the introduction of this law. “The current notification system is obviously not working,” Champion said. “The sheer scale of the violations and disappearances of sex offenders is a scandal that the public is unaware of.”
The existing laws are too lax, since it is up to the perpetrators to report changes. Champion criticized that new documents could help convicts get jobs working with children. The perpetrators should not be given the opportunity to flee the authorities and their past by changing their names, the activist said. The MP represents the Rotherham constituency in northern England, where at least 1,400 children were sexually abused between 1997 and 2013.
