New rules for sex offenders criticised by Labour

The Shadow Home Secretary has criticised government plans to allow sex offenders to have their names removed from the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Under the new proposals announced this week by the Home Office, sex offenders would be eligible to have their names removed after 15 years. It follows a Supreme Court ruling in April 2010 which said that offenders’ indefinite inclusion, without the chance of a review, amounted to a breach of human rights.

But Yvette Cooper said: “We believe sex offenders should stay on the register for the protection of the public. Victims of sex offenders have suffered serious harm and many continue to do so.

“I told the Home Secretary at the time of the Supreme Court judgement that I did not believe she had exhausted all of the options. We will continue to press for Parliament to have a say rather than the Government deciding the only response to the court is to let sex offenders come off the register.”

There are currently around 45,000 sex offenders on the register, around half of them for life. The changes could mean that about 1,000 offenders could potentially challenge their inclusion each year by asking a senior police officer to reconsider their registration.

The Home Office published an updated draft ‘Sexual Offences Act (Remedial) Order 2012’ to ensure that strict rules are put in place for considering whether sex offenders who are placed on the register for life should ever be allowed to be removed.

Home Office Minister James Brokenshire said: “We are doing everything we can to protect the public from predatory sex offenders by tightening the law and closing loopholes. At the same time we will continue to do the minimum necessary to abide by the Supreme Court ruling.

“We will make sure we have a process that is robust, workable and puts public protection first, while at the same time preventing sex offenders being able to waste taxpayers’ money by repeatedly challenging our laws. Most importantly sex offenders who continue to pose a risk will remain on the register and will do so for life if necessary.”

Assistant Chief Constable Michelle Skeer, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead on the management of sexual offenders, said monitoring was working and fewer serious offences were being committed by dangerous offenders.

She said: “The UK has some of the most effective techniques in the world to manage registered sex offenders.”

The Government has also published its response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ (JCHR) report, published in October last year.

The Home Office said it will continue to insist that no sex offender will be able to apply for a review until 15 years after they have been released from custody (eight years for juveniles) and that the police, working with other agencies through Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), will lead on any reviews.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The onus will be on sex offenders to prove that they no longer pose a risk. The Government has rejected the recommendations of the JCHR for the review system to be led by the courts or for an automatic right of appeal of a police decision to the Crown or High Court. The Government has also resisted changes to how the proposals would apply to child offenders.”

The Home Office said the draft proposals would instead include a provision for a right to appeal against an initial police decision to the magistrates’ court but with additional safeguards built in. Offenders appealing to the magistrates’ court would be required to pay a fee of £200 to begin proceedings, and a further £500 for a contested hearing, and may be liable for the costs of the hearing should the appeal be dismissed.

The Government added that under new plans, sex offenders will face tighter controls as the Government closes loopholes identified with the operation of the Sex Offenders’ Register. The Home Office said it will strengthen and extend current checks and make i