CONSERVATIVE MP Mark Fletcher has explained why he is proposing a bill to prevent sex offenders from changing their names.
He told GB News: “I came to this from a constituent’s casework. Unfortunately, something horrific happened to this constituent when they were very young, the offender was found and is in prison.
“But the constituents came to me because this offender wants to change their name, and I thought this couldn’t possibly be true.
“I’ll be honest, I was a bit sort of surprised but when I started to look into it, it’s actually a much, much bigger problem.
In a discussion with Esther McVey and Philip Davies during Friday Morning on GB News, he said: “If you look at the research that the Safeguarding Alliance have done in this area, what you’ll find is that not only is it very easy to change your name, but the onus is on the sex offender to notify the police of any change of records.
“And if you look at the data, of how many people are now slipping through the net, it’s a really quite scary issue.”
He continued: “There is a notification requirement and the onus is on the offender. The difficulty is if you don’t know what name you’re looking for.
“At least if they keep the same name and move the address, you have something to go on.
“The difficulty is that if you are assuming a new identity, you can go on to receive new documentation, be that a new passport, a new driver’s licence, or in some cases, a clean DBS check, which allows them to work in schools so this is a significant issue.”
Mr Fletcher added: “I think it’s what I would describe as a headbanger, because the further you go into this, the more the issues arise, and I’ve spent sort of two months looking at this from a lot of different directions.
“And again, I mentioned the Safeguarding Alliance and their research, but they are finding previous offenders now working in schools and elsewhere.
“Most people would be absolutely horrified to realise that this loophole exists and that’s why I’ve been working so hard on it.”
Asked if legislation was needed, other than changes to IT systems, he said: “I think when people sort of talk about the sex offenders register as if it’s something that is supreme and as a sort of national system, it isn’t really.
“You have 43 different versions of the sex offenders register that are regionalised and sit with each police force, and actually there is a central system,but data has to be uploaded into it once a year.
“We have a victims bill that is coming up very soon. And I think it would be an absolute slap in the face to victims, be it my constituent or anyone else’s, if we didn’t have this in there.”
He added: “And I have to say that this offender said to my constituent, ‘if you ever tell anyone, I will come and find you’.
“And that is why they’re so scared with the name change is that if they don’t know where they are and who they are, they’re worried that they will come back to them and I think that is a horrific thing to live with.”
