Hundreds of sex offenders disappear from Garda view
MORE than 350 convicted rapists, paedophiles and other sex offenders have disappeared from Garda view in the past eight years, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal.
The individuals with sex convictions left their registered addresses without telling gardaí, as they are obliged to.
Some left the country, either on holidays or to emigrate, and others were still living here but failed to notify gardaí of their whereabouts.
The figures have led to Fianna Fáil calling for a review of laws monitoring sex offenders.
The predators are in breach of notification requirements for sex offenders, which have been on the statute books since 2004.
These requirements also apply to criminals who have come to Ireland having committed sexual offences overseas.
Some of the sex offenders have disappeared altogether, sources say.
Others simply ‘forgot’ to inform gardaí that they were travelling abroad or moving house and were later tracked down, according to security sources.
The CSO figures don’t reveal how many are still at large, or provide a breakdown of the nature of the breaches.
The statistics show that 369 sex offenders have breached the
Call for review of the law
terms of their post-supervision release from 2010 until 2017.
More than 1,400 sex offenders are required to tell gardaí where they are living – and to inform the authorities if they move, even on holidays.
If they fail to do so, they can end up with a five-year jail term. Criminals convicted of sex offences since 2001 are placed on the Sex Offenders Register and are monitored by gardaí after release. Some are not given a jail term but are still subject to notification requirements.
Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman, Jim O’Callaghan, expressed his concerns over the significant number of breaches.
He told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘When sex offenders are released on terms that require postrelease supervision it is essential that those terms are obeyed and supervised.
‘The statistics recently published reveal that there are breaches of these terms.
‘Failure to enforce these terms will result in the public not having the appropriate protection.’
The Mail understands that a small number of high-risk sex offenders would be monitored daily, while others would be checked by gardaí on a monthly basis, to ensure they are still living at the address they supplied. Anyone convicted before 2001 is not monitored.
Infamous rapist Larry Murphy was convicted in 2001 and is subject to the monitoring process, despite the fact that he now lives in the UK, it is understood.
In most circumstances, offenders are permitted to leave the country, but they must inform gardaí, who in turn inform the police in the country they are moving to.
The statistics released to the Mail show that the largest number of breaches of the notification requirement took place in 2011, with 60 breaches logged. The number of breaches had fallen to 40 last year.