Friday 16 November 2007

Most Wanted website one year on:

Nine of the UK’s highest risk child sex offenders have been located in the last 12 months as a direct result of the ‘Most Wanted’ website, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre said today. They had been missing for a combined total of over 20 years.

And for the first time in the UK, the images of child sex offenders who have been missing for a number of years have been ‘age progressed’ by the leading UK charity for missing people to ensure that members of the public - and especially those working with children – have the very latest information on how these convicted offenders may look now.

From today, the Most Wanted website – www.ceop.gov.uk/wanted will display age-progressed pictures of Joshua Karney and Peter Weatherley. The process was carried out on behalf of the CEOP Centre by the charity Missing People (formerly the National Missing Person’s Helpline).

A new target - the site’s 14th – has been added today.

35 year old Stephen Clare is wanted by Northumbria Police for failure to fulfil his requirement to register on the Sex Offenders Register in 2002 and his current whereabouts are unknown. He has been known to work as a photographer and has undertaken qualifications to teach English as a foreign language and has possibly travelled overseas.

November 2006 saw the introduction of an unprecedented step in tackling child sex abuse when ‘Most Wanted’ became the UK’s first ever law enforcement website to publish details of convicted offenders. CEOP Chief Executive Jim Gamble said:

Last year we asked members of the public everywhere to work with us. Register on this site, have a look at these offenders and together let’s locate them and bring them back to justice. Thanks to their efforts and that partnership, nine offenders now know the true power of this new approach; nine offenders now know that they cannot escape the consequences of their crime because our view is simple – if you are an offender who thinks you can escape your registration requirements then think again. Go missing and you potentially forgo your right to anonymity - and there is a very good chance that you could become our 15th offender to see their details posted on the site.

So to everyone out there who has come forward with information, we thank you. To anyone out there working with children in whatever capacity we say get on board and register for updates from the site. And together let’s continue our search.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said:

I am committed to protecting children against sexual predators and I am pleased that so much has been achieved to this end in the past year.

Through the ‘Most Wanted’ website CEOP has set the standard for keeping children safe from sexual abuse. This and other initiatives like the ‘thinkuknow’ educational campaign demonstrate the UK is leading the way in ensuring that every child is living their lives free from fear, and every offender is found and punished.

Anyone with any information on any of the offenders posted should contact their local police station or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Further information and photographs can been found at www.ceop.gov.uk/wanted

Notes to Editors

1. Summary of statistics – CEOP Nov 2006 – Nov 2007

No of offenders placed on the website 13
No of offenders located 9
Total no of years missing from police management 20 years and 4 months
Average time an offender has been missing 2 years, 3 months per offender
No of hits on 1st day of launch 7.2 million
People logging on from all over the world 150 countries
Locations where offenders have been located: UK, France, Ireland, Mexico

2. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre joined forces with independent charity Crimestoppers to develop Most Wanted. It was launched last November as the UK’s first national website dedicated to locating child sex offenders who have failed to comply with notification requirements.

Members of the public can safely help locate ‘missing’ offenders by viewing photos and descriptions via the CEOP and Crimestoppers websites. If they recognise someone they are urged to contact the local police force, or if they wish to remain anonymous they can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Members of the public can receive automatic updates on new individuals posted on the Most Wanted website by going to: http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/ceop/MailingList.asp?rootid=-1

This initiative forms a key element of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre’s approach to tracking and bringing offenders to account. All individuals published on the site have previously been convicted for an offence for which they have already served punishment within the criminal justice system. They are sought because they have subsequently failed to fulfil their requirements as part of their placement on the Sex Offenders Register. This is an arrestable offence, with a punishment of up to five years imprisonment.

Details of previous offences will not be disclosed to the media for the reasons stated above.

Photographs of offenders will only be published with the consent of the local police force. Individual forces are under no obligation to publish their offenders on the Most Wanted site. Further offenders will be considered for inclusion on the ‘Most Wanted’ site in consultation with local police forces.

The decision to publish the details of all offenders detailed on the site has been risk assessed by the CEOP Centre and relevant local forces.

3. Missing People is the UK’s only charity that works with young runaways, missing and unidentified people, their families and others who care for them.

Identification is a specialist service offered by Missing People to support police, coroners, hospitals and social services to resolve cases of unidentified people (alive or dead). The service provides specialist forensic artwork such as image enhancements, facial reconstructions and age progressions, to enable new publicity of both missing and unidentified people.

Missing People has produced age progressions of these UK child sex offenders at the request of CEOP’s and is not involved in the search or investigation of these offenders.

For more information about the charity visit www.missingpeople.org.uk

4. The CEOP Centre works in both online and offline environments to protect children from sexual exploitation. Full information on all areas of work as well as online safety messages and access to online reporting can be found at www.ceop.gov.uk.

The organisation is affiliated to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and powers are derived from the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. It is based in Pimlico, London with developing outreach channels to all areas of both domestic and international policing as well as industry and specialist support and educational faculties.

For further information please contact the Communications Team at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre on 0870 000 3434.

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