Three North East registered sex offenders are 'missing'

New figures show whereabouts of 396 UK offenders unknown, including two in Northumbria and one in Durham.

Three sex offenders have gone missing in the North East police have revealed.

New figures have shown 396 convicted perverts on the sex offenders’ register in the UK are wanted because their whereabouts are unknown, including some who have been missing for more than a decade.

And two of those were being monitored in the Northumbria Police area, while one was in County Durham.

One convicted sex offender in Northumbria disappeared in May 2002, while the whereabouts of the other has been unknown since November 2008.

Registered sex offenders - including rapists and paedophiles - are required to inform police and probation officers of their addresses and are supposed to be monitored by officials working under multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA).

But in freedom of information responses 39 forces revealed there were missing registered sex offenders in their areas.

Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was abducted and killed in 2000 by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting, said: “It’s completely unacceptable that any registered sex offenders have disappeared from authority management, putting the public at risk.

“It’s time to take some serious proactive action to bring them back under the police radar.”

The NSPCC described the figures as “alarming” and said its own research had found there was just one police staff member responsible for every 50 registered sex offenders.

Jon Brown, the charity’s lead for tackling sexual abuse, said: “About half of those on the register are offenders who have raped or sexually assaulted children, or committed online child abuse image offences, however most just receive one police visit a year after they have been released from prison and a period of supervision.

“The monitoring of registered sex offenders in communities needs urgent attention by the Government to ensure it is fit for purpose.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The UK has some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with sex offenders and we are committed to ensuring the system is as robust as possible.

“It is for the police to manage offenders in their area, but we work closely with forces to ensure legislation is effective and that officers have all the tools they need.”

And Deputy Chief Constable Michelle Skeer, who is the National Policing Lead for the Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders, added: “Protecting the public from sexual and violent offenders is a key role for the police service.

“A large proportion of the recorded wanted or missing sex offenders are, following investigation, either known or believed to be living abroad or have returned to their country of origin. When registered sexual offenders (RSO’s) are missing or wanted in the UK, all police forces are alerted. If they return to the UK, there are several processes in place to ensure that they are brought to the attention of police and arrested where appropriate.

“The UK has some of the most effective tools in the world to manage RSO’s. While the reality is that the risks posed to the public by such individuals can never be completely eliminated, there is significant evidence that the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) successfully keeps them to a minimum.

“The new Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPO) and Sexual Risk Orders (SRO) mean that, for the first time, we can safeguard children or vulnerable adults abroad as well as in the UK. “Along with the Shengen information system (SIS II) these will significantly enhance the existing procedures and processes we have in place.”

Operation Sanctuary: Four Newcastle men charged with offences including rape and drug supply

Jahangir Zaman, Shiek Zaman, Nadeem Aslam and Abdul Khayum will appear before Newcastle Magistrates' Court on March 30

Four Newcastle men have been charged with offences including rape, drug supply and kidnap as part of Operation Sanctaury.

Jahangir Zaman, 41, of Hadrian Road, in Fenham, has been charged with rape and supply of mephedrone.

Shiek Zaman, 32, of Yewvale Road, Fenham, is charged with kidnap, falsely imprisoning another and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence.

While Nadeem Aslam, 41, of Belle Grove West, Spital Tongues is charged with permit the use of premises for supply of mephedrone and supply of mephedrone, and

Abdul Khayum, 23, of Hampstead Road, Benwell, has been charged with rape.

All four will appear before Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on March 30.

Northumbria Police launched Operation Sanctuary in January 2014 with a wave of arrests after receiving a report expressing concern for one girl.

But as the investigation continued detectives discovered a widespread problem of vulnerable women and girls being abused.

And Operation Sanctuary was subsequently broadened to include all incidents of females being sexually assaulted after being targeted because of their vulnerability.

Acklam pair who carried out £2m frauds jailed for total of more than 11 years

Muhammed Asif Ali sat in the dock alongside his son and wife who received suspended sentences for their part in one of the conspiracies.

A Teesside businessman sat in the dock alongside his son and wife as he was jailed for six and a half years for fraud totalling more than £2m.

Muhammed Asif Ali, and partner in crime Carol Ann Bainbridge, 48, were previously convicted by a jury of conspiring to defraud the former regional development agency One North East of £500,000.

The pair also faced a separate charge of £1.6m mortgage fraud, alongside Ali’s son, Mohammed Salman Ali, 28, and, wife Ghazala Ali, 45.

For her part in both crimes, Bainbridge was jailed for five years.

Teesside Crown Court heard how they defrauded the now-defunct One North East between June 2008 and October 2009.

Prosecutor Andrew Haslam told a previous hearing they took money from the agency and kept it for their own ends in a bank account in Ali’s name.

He said just over £519,000 of taxpayers’ money was paid out by One North East on the basis of false information, and was spent.

He said Ali, 56, of Acklam Road, Middlesbrough, used other people’s identities and appointed “stooges” as company directors, giving him control while hiding his involvement and diverting creditors.

The case concerned a company, Well Springs Green Lane Ltd, and its failed development in Spennymoor, County Durham.

Ali and Bainbridge also took part in the £1.6m mortgage fraud alongside his wife and son where they used false identities or the identities of unsuspecting third parties as well as falsifying incomes to defraud a number of fincial institutions.

Angus McDonald, prosecuting yesterday, said Ali Sr “played a leading role” in the conspiracy while Bainbridge “operated in partnership” with him.

Nigel Ingram, defending Ali Sr, said: “References show he is a man held in high regard in some quarters.

“You are not dealing with a man involved in fraud who was involved in a particularly lavish lifestyle.”

Katy Rafter, for Bainbridge, a mother of Skerne Way, Darlington, said she was “of previous good character before she was involved in this conspiracy”.

In sentencing she asked the judge to take into account that her client had some “genuine mental health difficulties”.

Tanveer Bashir, for Salman Ali, said he “wasn’t a prime mover in the fraud and wasn’t a big mover of the money.

“In reality he wasn’t someone who would have been caught up in this had it not been for the company he kept, ie, his father and mortgage brokers.”

Mohammed Qazi for Ghazala Ali, a mum-of- three of Acklam Road, said but for her relationship with her husband “would she have embarked on this criminality?”

“One of the reasons she was lending support to the (mortgage) applications was that she thought she could retain the security of the family home.”

Ali Sr and his son, also of Acklam Road, admitted taking part in the plot.

Bainbridge and Ghazala Ali denied the conspiracy and were convicted after a trial in December 2013.

Judge Les Spittle, described the frauds as “quite sophisticated” and told Ali Sr: “You are devious and manipulative in your dealings”

Salman Ali was given 22 months suspended for 18 months with 200 hours unpaid community work. His mother Ghazala Ali received 24 months suspended for 18 months with a supervision order.

All defendants were also barred from being a company director for 15 years.

Over 60 children in Stockton at risk of being groomed for sex exploitation - task force warns

Following The Jay report into Rotherham child abuse scandal, local authorities are reviewing their own Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing, Trafficked protocols

More than 60 children in Stockton were identified as potentially at risk of being groomed for sex exploitation, a review has found.

But the true scale of child exploitation in Stockton “is unknown” warned a new task force, and must be investigated further - including seeking evidence from children.

And while strong measures are in place to tackle what children’s charities warn is a growing problem, there is “no room for complacency”, say council chiefs.

Following The Jay report into the Rotherham child abuse scandal - which criticised the Metropolitan Council for failings in the handling of abuse - local authorities are reviewing their own VEMT (Vulnerable, Exploited, Missing, Trafficked) protocols for identifying and dealing with the problem.

The Department of Education defines sexual exploitation of children as involving exploitative situations and relationships where young people receive things like food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes affection, gifts, or money for sexual activities.

The Task and Finish Review of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) found that in Stockton during 2013/14 a total of 61 children and young people were looked at under sex exploitation protocols

Of these 46 were female and 15 male, 59 were under 18 and 42 were thought at risk of child sex exploitation.

The Task and Finish Group - made up of representatives from the council and partner agencies - were also made aware of a number of current live investigations.

But “the true scale of the problem was not known and victims often did not recognise themselves as being victims of abuse,” the report went on.

Other findings included:

• The grooming and exploitation of young people could take many different forms and both perpetrators and victims could come from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds

• The majority of victims lived at home, however, looked after children accounted for “a disproportionate number of victims”

• Boys and young men can also be victims and women could be perpetrators primarily in helping to procure victims. Sometimes victims were also perpetrators.

• In Stockton, the occupations of known perpetrators were varied with no recurring themes.

Stockton’s A Way Out outreach and prevention charity also highlighted issues to the committee, including:

• There was an extremely high incidence of childhood sexual exploitation among women involved in “survival sex work”.

• Young girls and boys did not realise they were being subjected to online exploitation

• The development of an online educational course for children and parents as a preventative measure would be beneficial

But agencies were proactive in Stockton in tackling child exploitation, the Task and Finish Group reported.

Multi agency working “allowed the sharing of intelligence”, although this was harder when children moved out of the borough/area, its report said.

Stockton Council and partners were “proactively seeking intelligence about CSE activity”.

All local schools had “a designated safeguarding officer and all staff received safeguarding training.”

But the committee said it “is acutely aware that this important issue merits further investigation.

“The Task and Finish Group believe that it is vital that feedback from children is also sought to assess the quality of the council’s and partners’ response to this issue.”

Councillor Ann McCoy, Stockton Council’s Cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The report found there was strong commitment from all Stockton Borough Members, officers, partners and providers to tackle this problem and strong measures were in place.

“By definition this is a difficult issue to quantify because victims do not always recognise themselves as being victims of abuse so we know there is no place for complacency. We will look at the group’s recommendations carefully to see how we can continue to improve to tackle this problem, identify those who need our support more quickly and make our young people aware of the dangers associated with inappropriate relationships.

“Anyone who would like to report concerns about Child Sexual Exploitation in Stockton Borough can contact 01642 527764 or firstcontact@stockton.gov.uk”