Ireland becoming ‘safe haven’ for sex offenders
That is according to the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, speaking after it was revealed that British sex offender Paul Hunter Redpath has notified gardaí that he is in the country.
Redpath has been convicted of sex offences against two young girls in the North and breached his probation conditions there by leaving the jurisdiction. Since then he has been sighted in various parts of the country.
The major fear for the ISPCC is that inadequate monitoring powers and information-sharing between authorities could mean that people like Redpath could get a job working with children.
ISPCC chief executive Paul Gilligan told RTÉ yesterday: “The Sex Offenders Act makes provision for a notification system so he is obliged to notify the local garda station that he has come into the country. Technically, that is not a register, it’s a notification system.”
He said the act allowed gardaí to then seek a court to order that a person cannot engage in certain activities. “There is a huge question mark in this case as to whether the gardaí could make such an order, given that the offences have not occurred in Ireland.”
The other concern, as pointed out by Fine Gael justice spokesman Jim O’Keeffe, is that such orders are rarely, if ever, sought.
Paul Gilligan also pointed out that under the Sex Offenders Act, there is an obligation on an individual to notify an employer that they have a sexual offence against them.
“The difficulty is that the obligation remains with the individual,” he said.
“Two weeks ago gardaí gave evidence to the Oireachtas Committee on Child Protection in which they clearly indicated they do not have access to this notification system through the vetting procedure, and they are having difficulty receiving vetting information from Britain.
“So if this person who they know, for example, has absconded from one jurisdiction chooses not to inform an employer that they have a conviction, there is no way that will show up in garda vetting, which is extremely concerning.”
A garda spokesman said that if the employment is one for which vetting is required, the conviction will show up if the person has notified gardaí.
“If it is not it won’t, it will not. It is as simple as that,” he said.
Mr Gilligan said one of the key issues is the difference between the system in the North and the south and said the fear is that people will continue to abscond from the strict system in the North to the relative ‘safe haven’ here.
He also called for an international protocol between law enforcement agencies to ensure better international monitoring.
Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said British and Irish Governments had concerns about such cases and feared the Border could be used as a way for people to evade justice either way.
PAUL HUNTER REDPATH, 35, went missing from his approved residence in the North in September, less than a week after being released from prison.
Originally from Stranraer in Scotland, he had served half of a three-year sentence for unlawful carnal knowledge and indecent assault of a 13-year-old girl in Downpatrick, Co Down.
He had pleaded guilty to the offences as well as indecent assault on another girl aged under 14, all of which took place in March 2005 in Downpatrick.
PSNI sources describe him as a “predator” who also abuses alcohol.
“He is a very real threat and someone who needs to be supervised and monitored extremely closely if children around him are to be protected,” said the source.
A few days after Redpath absconded, a man tried to entice an 11-year-old boy into a car in Downpatrick. Detectives are understood to be trying to establish if Redpath was behind the abduction bid.
Faced with demands to return Redpath to the North, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said: “We are not harbouring anyone. But the two administrations did agree a number of months ago we needed to work in tandem to ensure the Border is not used as a vehicle for evading justice.”
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