Rare court order to protect public from freed sadist

POLICE have issued a rarely used court order to protect the public after a sadist who abused women was released from prison.

Andrew Delsol, 45, was serving an eight-year jail term for subjecting a terrified teenage girl to almost a week of terror while holding her captive in an attic in 2002.

His violent past, which also includes torturing an ex-girlfriend with a blowtorch, concerned police so much they sought a Violent Offender court order, used for only the third time under the Criminal Justice Act 2008.

Under the Violent Offender Order, Delsol, from Bradford, will have to make his whereabouts known to police.

Det Con Lisa Jeffrey, of the Lancashire Constabulary Public Protection Unit, said: “We regard him as posing a very serious risk to the general public. He feels he has been wrongly convicted and he has not taken advantage of any help while in prison.”

A hearing will be held at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on February 11 regarding the order.