Paedophiles ‘slipping through loopholes in police checks’

An expert in the behaviour of paedophiles says organisations are
relying too heavily on Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks to
detect child abusers among staff.

Ray Wyre, an adviser and trainer to the police on paedophiles,
warned that loopholes in the police checks on staff working with
vulnerable adults and children made it possible for potential
abusers to obtain CRB enhanced certificates.

“CRB is not enough on its own,” said Wyre. “One mistake in a date
of birth or if someone changes their name by deed poll may not be
picked up by the CRB.

“Someone would probably still get an enhanced certificate even if
they have a family court judgement against them.”

He said organisations needed to establish an “aware culture” that
would be more efficient at spotting risk factors when recruiting
staff.

Wyre has been testing a new tagging system on paedophiles to
monitor their behaviour. Advice and support would be offered if
there was a risk of re-offending.

The system is currently used to enforce curfew orders, but Wyre and
Dan Norris, the MP who agreed to test the device, are pushing for
the government to introduce a one-year study on 500 sex offenders.