Thousands of sex offenders are changing their details without notifying police, new figures reveal, as campaigners call for an end to a “loophole that is making a mockery of the legal system”.
Between January 2019 and June 2022, there have been almost 12,000 prosecutions made against people on the sex offence register who have failed to tell authorities about a change in their personal information, such as name and location, despite a legal requirement to do so.
The figures – obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) Request by The Safeguarding Alliance and shared exclusively with Sky News – are “just the tip of the iceberg in this epidemic” and do not reflect those who have not been caught, campaigners say.
Labour MP Sarah Champion, who led a debate in parliament on Thursday about tightening the laws, told Sky News: “By changing their name that makes a lot of the schemes that we have around safeguarding completely redundant.
“For example women who’ve experienced domestic violence, they can call up, check the name of their new partner against that (sex offence) register. If they’ve got a different name, that’s not going to flag those dangers.”
Ms Champion said the process of changing a name for a sex offender is “so simple to do”.
“You can do it online. I’ve found offenders that have done it in prison. I’ve found offenders that do it just before they get charged to keep their birth name protected.”
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She said a new name allows criminals to get a new driving licence and passport and with those documents “you can then get a clean DBS check in that new name”.
“And we’ve found examples of offenders that have done that. And then have gone on to re-offend almost without any form of detection being available,” she said.
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The MP for Rotherham said police already have tools to put markers on driving licences and passports electronically which could be used to flag attempts by sex offenders to change their details.
However, she claimed the Home Office have said it could only be applied in the most extreme circumstances because of cost.
Image: Labour MP Sarah Champion said the process for a sex offender trying to change their name is “simple to do”
Ms Champion said: “What price is put on protecting a child or a vulnerable person from a sexual offender? What price is the consequence of not doing that? Colossal. I would imagine it’s going to be a couple of hundred pounds each time they do the check.”
Asked if sex offenders should be stopped from changing their name in the first place, Ms Champion said “you still then have the same problem of trying to enforce it”.
“The problem we have at the moment is all of the onus is onto the sex offender to tell the police if they change their name, if they change their location, if they go abroad, and by nature, they’re not,” she said.
She said sex offenders are “disappearing” after changing their details and “the government can’t just sit on its hands on this. It needs to put proper protections in place”.
Can sex offenders legally change their name?
Data previously obtained by Sky News showsmore than 900 sex offenders have disappeared off the police radar with many thought to have disguised their identities by changing their names and not telling officers.
From January 2017 to December 2019, 1,349 registered sex offenders notified a name change – but 913 were reported missing during the same time.
Case study: How easily can sex offenders change their name?
A deed poll process takes 15 minutes online and costs £42.44.
Campaigners are warning that while it is an offence for people on the sex offenders register to change their names without telling officials, that’s not incentive enough for them not to do it – as it’s easy to do and common practice.
A rapist called Terry Price conducted a string of sexual offences over three decades and has changed his name five times in an effort to cover up his recurring pattern of behaviour.
Della Wright, who was abused by Price as a child, recently found the courage to report the crimes – but she discovered her attacker was called Robert McEwan (also a sex offender).
Ahead of his trial in 2016, her attacker changed his name again to Mr Mac, so he was unable to enter a plea because the charges were against Robert McEwan. The process was disrupted for several weeks and Ms Wright believes he did it in the hope she would lose her nerve.
Ms Wright has waived her right to anonymity to highlight this issue in the hope that the laws will change to make it impossible for sex offenders to change their identities.
While sex offenders who fail to notify face up to five years in prison, campaigners say that is not enough of an incentive to stop them.
Ms Champion and the Safeguarding Alliance want a tagging system placed on the passport and/or driving licence on all registered sex offenders to stop them from using official documents as a way to evade justice.
They are also calling for the onus to be put on authorities who manage violent or sexual offenders to check if criminals have changed their details.
The government carried out a review of the issue in 2021 but the findings have not been made public.
Government ‘carefully considering’ review findings
Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, Home Office minister Sarah Dines said she was “carefully considering the findings”, stressing some of the content is “very sensitive”.
She suggested there are several tools to help the government manage “the risk” of sex offenders, but added: “I do accept and concede that there is always more work to be done.”
Ms Dines also faced pressure to take action from Conservative MP Mark Fletcher, who wants to make a new law to stop sex offenders from changing their identities.
The MP for Bolsover also said it is “unacceptable” and a “tremendous slap in the face” for victims for the government not to publish a review into the issue, and it feels like “we are prioritising the rights of sexual offenders over the rights of the general public”.
Miss Dines said: “As I’ve made clear, public protection and safety is our number one priority and we’re committed to ensure that the police and other agencies have more and better tools to assist them to more effectively manage registered sex offenders.
“So in a nutshell, a lot has been done but there is more to do. We need more joined-up systems and I’m going to try and do my little bit in my short time to address these issues.”
Educators are split over the government’s proposed Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, with some saying the move will improve fairness and accountability and others warning it could limit innovation in academy schools.
Pushed by the Department for Education (DfE) as a means to reform the education system, the bill seeks to improve school standards, strengthen attendance policies, and ensure that children receive a well-rounded education that prioritises their wellbeing.
The legislation also includes measures to increase school accountability, particularly for academies, by giving more oversight to the DfE.
Katharine Birbalsingh, headteacher of Michaela School in Wembley, north London, called it “absolutely appalling”.
“I’m just really concerned because, at the moment, school leaders have the freedom to do various things that are right for their intake,” she told Sky News.
“This bill will take those freedoms away.”
Ms Birbalsingh, also known as ‘Britain’s strictest headteacher’, added: “We got unlucky because we could have had Wes Streeting as education secretary, which would have been fine. Unfortunately, we got her [Bridget Phillipson].
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“She [Ms Phillipson] is so arrogant. She’s just marched in there and gone, ‘I know what I’m doing, I’ll just do what I want’.”
But some argue that academies are left to their own devices and have a lack of accountability when it comes to things like parental complaints.
The bill will require all schools to follow the national curriculum and employ teachers who have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) or are working towards it.
Image: Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis Academies
The founder of Oasis Academies, Steve Chalke, told Sky News: “We’re excited about the changes because we feel that education has been in a very, very poor place for the last decade or more.
“Schools have been stripped of resources and there have been giant problems about the recruitment and retention of teachers.
“We feel that this important bill is beginning to address all of those issues.”
The bill plans to provide all primary school children with breakfast, alongside uniform limits.
This would prevent schools from having more than three items of branded uniform clothing, potentially addressing concerns parents have about the cost of uniforms.
Mr Chalke said: “I am a fan of working hard collaboratively to create the best opportunities for any and every young person and their family.
“Because behind every struggling child is normally a parent who’s struggling with that.”
He added: “We at Oasis are excited about all of this, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have questions.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re being led blindly down the road, but our job is to be engaged in the discussion about how academies work more widely with their local authorities.”
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February: Govt’s overhauling of Ofsted inspections
The bill will also give local authorities greater control over the pupil admission process.
Ms Birbalsingh said: “Any council could decide to reduce the number of children in one school and therefore reduce the money at that school and give more pupils to another school that’s struggling.”
Mr Chalke said: “Educational academy boards, academy groups, need to be accountable in strong partnership with others. And if this bill delivers everything it promises, wow. I think [it] will be an extraordinary outcome.”
Image: The bill will give local authorities greater control over the pupil admission process
The bill is set to be debated further in the coming weeks as it moves through parliament.
A DfE spokesperson said: “This government is determined to drive high and rising standards for every child through our Plan for Change, to ensure every family has a good local school for their child.
“Our landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill delivers on this mission, getting high-quality teachers into every classroom, and ensuring there is a floor on pay and no ceiling.
“These measures will make sure we are giving every child an education as good as the best.”
Two Labour MPs have been denied entry to Israel and deported.
Yuan Yang and Abtisam Mohamed were rejected because they were suspected of plans to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred”, according to a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry.
Ms Yang, who represents Earley and Woodley, and Ms Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, both flew to the country from Luton on Saturday.
According to a statement from the Israeli immigration ministry, they were accompanied by two assistants and during questioning, the MPs claimed they were visiting Israel “as part of an official parliamentary delegation”.
The ministry branded their claim as “false”, but UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy reacted to news of the MPs’ detention saying their treatment while “on a parliamentary delegation to Israel” was “unacceptable”.
In their own statement, the two women said they were “astounded at the unprecedented step taken by the Israeli authorities”.
“It is vital that parliamentarians are able to witness, first-hand, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the statement said.
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“We are two, out of scores of MPs, who have spoken out in Parliament in recent months on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the importance of complying with international humanitarian law. Parliamentarians should feel free to speak truthfully in the House of Commons, without fear of being targeted.”
They said they had travelled to “visit humanitarian aid projects and communities in the West Bank” with “UK charity partners who have over a decade of experience in taking parliamentary delegations”.
“We thank them, the staff of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, the British Consulate in Jerusalem, the Middle East minister and the Foreign Secretary for their tireless support,” the statement concludes.
Israel’s UK embassy said the MPs were denied entry because they had “accused Israel of false claims, were actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers, and supported campaigns aimed at boycotting the state of Israel”.
Its statement said the women “chose not to exercise their right under Israeli law to petition the court to reconsider the decision”.
As a result, they were “offered hotel accommodation, which they declined” and their return flight was covered by the Israeli state.
“The visit was intended to provoke anti-Israel activities at a time when Israel is at war and under attack on seven fronts. Its purpose was to harm Israel and Israeli citizens and spread falsehoods about them,” the statement added.
“The state of Israel has both the authority and the duty to prevent the entry of individuals whose presence in the country is intended to cause harm to its citizens – just as such authority exists in the United Kingdom.”
Mr Lammy said in a statement to Sky News: “It is unacceptable, counterproductive, and deeply concerning that two British MPs on a parliamentary delegation to Israel have been detained and refused entry by the Israeli authorities.
“I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians, and we have been in contact with both MPs tonight to offer our support.
“The UK government’s focus remains securing a return to the ceasefire and negotiations to stop the bloodshed, free the hostages and end the conflict in Gaza.”
In an interview with Sky’s Trevor Phillips, chief secretary to the treasury Darren Jones echoed Mr Lammy’s accusation of “unacceptable” behaviour by the Israelis.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips that “every country should be able to control its borders” and “that’s what Israel is doing” because they “gave reasons why those people shouldn’t have come in based on their laws”.
“It’s really important, I believe, to respect those countries’ decisions,” she told Sky News.
Ms Badenoch also said she is “very concerned” about the “rhetoric” on the Middle East from Labour MPs – and six independents – and therefore she was “not surprised” by the move of Israeli border officials.
She claimed there is “a lot of repeating of misinformation, repeating of conspiracy theories” during Prime Minister’s Questions.
“I see Labour MPs standing up and saying things which even Keir Starmer has to disagree with and shut down at PMQs,” she added.
An artist whose official portrait of Donald Trump was publicly criticised by the president said her business is now “in danger of not recovering”.
The Republican leader made headlines at the end of last month when, in a post on his Truth Social platform, he said the portrait hanging in Colorado’s State Capitol had been “purposefully distorted”.
Following the criticism, officials said the portrait would be taken down and it has since been removed.
Sarah Boardman, the British artist who painted the Trumpportrait, said in a statement to Sky News she felt her “intentions, integrity, and abilities” had been “called into question” when the president criticised the oil painting.
In his post, Mr Trump said a portrait by the same artist of former US president Barack Obama was “wonderful” but “the one on me is truly the worst”.
Referring to Ms Boardman, whose collection of official portraits also includes one of former president George W Bush, Mr Trump said “she must have lost her talent as she got older”.
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Trump’s portrait to be taken down
He then added: “In any event, I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one.”
Almost two weeks since the criticism, Ms Boardman has now responded saying her business has been detrimentally impacted.
She said: “President Trump is entitled to comment freely, as we all are, but the additional allegations that I ‘purposefully distorted’ the portrait, and that I ‘must have lost my talent as I got older’ are now directly and negatively impacting my business of over 41 years which now is in danger of not recovering.”
The artist also described how “for the six years that the portrait hung in the Colorado State Capitol Building Rotunda, I received overwhelmingly positive reviews and feedback”.
“Since President Trump’s comments, that has changed for the worst,” she added.
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Ms Boardman said the Colorado State Capitol Advisory Committee, Denver, commissioned her to paint the official portrait of President Trump for the Denver State Capitol Gallery of Presidents.
“The reference photograph and my subsequent ‘works in progress’ were all approved, throughout that process, by that committee,” she said.
“I completed the portrait accurately, without ‘purposeful distortion’, political bias, or any attempt to caricature the subject, actual or implied. I fulfilled the task per my contract.”