Suspected child sex offender arrested

AN Irish-born suspected child sex offender who has evaded British police for three years and was believed to be hiding out in Spain has been arrested in Longford.

Patrick Pious Hancox, aged 68, was identified on March 22 after a number of complaints were made by families who saw young children enter his home in the Gleann Riada estate.

The Dublin-born pensioner is one of Britain’s most wanted suspected criminals, with the Crimestoppers charity recently naming him as a suspect believed to be based in the Costa del Sol.

Hancox — who also goes by the alias “Gordon Patrick” — is the subject of a High Court extradition request by British police seeking to question him on child sex offences charges, which was up for mention yesterday.

These charges include an alleged child abduction relating to an incident involving a 14-year-old girl in Blackpool in 2008.

At the time of the incident, Hancox was served with a notice precluding him from having contact with this girl, as well as other conditions which were broken.

He was subsequently charged with the offences but failed to answer bail, with a warrant for his arrest subsequently being issued.

The pensioner was believed to have been hiding out in the Costa del Sol.

However, gardaí have confirmed he was arrested in the Gleann Riada estate in Longford late last month.

Local media has reported that young people were regularly seen going into Hancox’s house the year he was living in the town.

One former neighbour who declined to be named said she could not understand how a known fugitive was able to evade capture for almost three years, the last 12 months of which were spent living in Ireland just yards from her own front door.

“We [residents] can’t understand why a man can be able to walk into Longford, go to an estate agent, rent a house, lead a normal life every day and supposed to be wanted for the last couple of years,” she said.

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