Rise in repeat offences by supervised criminals

THE number of sexual and violent offenders being supervised in the community who go on to commit further serious offences has risen by 17 per cent, official figures have shown.
Yorkshire's police forces are lacking racial diversity, figure showYorkshire's police forces are lacking racial diversity, figure show
Yorkshire's police forces are lacking racial diversity, figure show

A total of 174 registered sex offenders and violent criminals, who were being supervised by Probation Trusts, were charged with a serious further offence last year, which can include murder, rape and manslaughter, the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa) annual report said.

London had the largest number (38) of repeat offenders, followed by West Yorkshire and West Midlands with 17 each - higher than Greater Manchester’s 13.

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North Yorkshire charged two, in South Yorkshire four were charged and the Humberside force had five repeat offenders.

The 174 who went on to be charged with a further serious offence represents a 17 per cent increase compared with 149 in 2012/13.

No-one was available to comment from West Yorkshire Police.

Tim Madgwick, deputy chief constable of North Yorkshire, said: “Protecting our communities from the harm posed by sexual and violent offenders is a vital role for the police and probation service. MAPPA provides an invaluable framework for us to work together and share information with other organisations to provide the best possible level of protection for our communities.”

He said North Yorkshire remained “one of the safest places in the country” although the risk posed by some could never be eliminated.

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Mr Madgwick said “everything possible is being done to keep the risks to a minimum.”

Official figures also revealed that 18 murderers are among hundreds of offenders on the run after being recalled to prison.

There are 1,064 offenders who have been recalled to prison after being released on licence but have not been returned to custody, statistics from the Ministry of Justice said.

Among the total figure are 134 criminals convicted of violent offences, including 18 murderers, and 34 sex offenders, including 14 rapists.

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Offenders serving a sentence of 12 months and more are in most cases released from prison automatically at the half way point of their sentence, under licensed supervision.

There are various reasons why offenders are recalled to custody for breaching their licence conditions, including committing a further offence or a deterioration in behaviour.

Justice Minister Andrew Selous said: “In over 99 per cent of cases where an offender has been recalled, the individual has successfully been returned to custody.

“Once an offender has been recalled by probation, the National Offender Management Service work in partnership with the police to quickly identify and recall offenders but ultimately, it is for the police to return them to custody.”

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He added: “We have some of the toughest measures in the world to manage violent and sexual offenders in the community, including a system which requires sex offenders to register their address and other information, sometimes for life.”