Yorkshire MP calls for law change to stop registered sex offenders from ‘disappearing’

The Labour MP said offenders are changing their names by deed poll so they can evade the authorities, and some are then able to pass DBS checks to gain access to vulnerable people and reoffend.

She said: “Unless this loophole is closed it makes a nonsense of the schemes the public rely on to detect offenders, for example the sexual offenders register, the child sex offenders disclosure system, the domestic violence disclosure scheme and the disclosure and barring service, all of which are reliant on having the correct name.”

Under the current rules, anyone on the Sex Offenders’ Register can be jailed for up to five years if they change their name or address without notifying police.

However, in 2021 a Safeguarding Alliance report revealed that 16,000 offenders had breached notification requirements over five years and 905 had gone missing between 2017 and 2020.

Ms Champion said the system is ineffective because it “depends on registered sex offenders self reporting changes of their information”.

She added: “If we don’t urgently improve this system we have to accept hundreds more offenders will continue to disappear from the system meant to safeguard us.”

She told MPs it is “chilling” that offenders who change their name can apply for a new passport and driving licence, which can then be used to pass a DBS check.

She also said all offenders should be “electronically tagged” by the Passport Office and DLVA, to ensure they cannot easily obtain new identities and pass DBS checks.

Conservative MP Lucy Allan raised the case of a child sex offender, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail, but then changed their name by deed poll and their gender identity from a man to a woman.

Ms Allan, who represents Telford, said the new identity will “erase the terrible harm” they did and they will be “afforded enhanced rights of privacy that should never, ever be afforded to a serious child sex offender”.

Conservative MP Mark Fletcher said he is “slightly baffled” that a “ludicrous loophole” exists to allow registered sex offenders to change their name.

He said: “It does feel rather like we are in a situation in which we are prioritising the rights of sexual offenders over the rights of the general public, over the rights of people who need to know if the people working in their schools are safe, need to know if the people working in their care homes are safe, need to know if their partner has a past, need to know if someone who is interacting with their child is safe.”

Safeguarding Minister Sarah Dines told MPs the UK is “one of the most stringent countries in the world for the management of sex offenders”, but said: “It’s not enough and more has to be done”.

She said courts can use Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs) and Sexual Risk Order (SRO) to impose a range of restrictions on convicted offenders, and they can be used to prevent name changes.

During the debate, she said the Passport Office has a watchlist which is used to prevent high-risk offenders from obtaining a passport without the police being notified first.

She also said anyone applying for DBS check must establish their original identity by providing at least one Government document or fingerprints, so previous offences can be scrutinised.

Ms Dines then told MPs the Government has conducted a review of the issue and there “are some immediate actions that can be taken forward”, but the findings may not be made public as they are “very sensitive”.