Homeless charity cancels vigil after finding out dead man was convicted paedophile

A homeless man who died while sleeping rough in Dublin's city centre last week was on the sex offenders register.

Campaigners Home Sweet Home have cancelled a vigil which was due to be held outside Apollo House tomorrow for Stephen 'Jack' Watson.

The 51-year-old was deported from Australia in 2015 for clocking up almost 40 convictions, one of which was for the sexual assault of two underage girls.

"Jack" Watson, as he asked to be known when being assisted by homelessness outreach workers, used a number of aliases and had also spent time in the UK.

Home Sweet Home, which led the occupation of Apollo House in Dublin last winter to provide emergency beds, said the vigil was cancelled out of respect for victims.

Watson had stayed in the building for a while.

The Irish Sun reports that he was registered in Ireland as a sex offender because, as part of his conviction in Australia, he was put on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

They reported it was due to expire in 2018 in this country, but Gardaí were aware of it and he did make himself known to Gardaí that he did have the conviction.

A statement released by Home Sweet Home Facebook said: "Those associated with the Home Sweet Home campaign are shocked at reports that a homeless man who passed away last week had been deported from Australia for very serious crimes.

“Out of respect for the victims of these crimes a planned vigil outside Apollo House on Thursday evening is cancelled.

“This does not change the fact that many people have died as a result of our housing emergency. This is totally unacceptable and urgently needs to be addressed.

“The Artists and Trade Unionists involved in HSH have had some discussions about building a permanent policy driven intervention into the housing emergency that would systemically target the root causes of this policy made catastrophe.

“Such an initiative not only forms part of a solution to the emergency, but serves as a permanent memorial to all those who have had their lives ruined by it, in perpetuity."