Police admit they’ve lost track of 372 sex criminals

HUNDREDS of sex offenders are on the loose after police forces in England and Wales lost track of them.

At least 372 criminals who were convicted of crimes including rape, indecent assault and grooming cannot be found.

Figures reveal a huge increase in the number that vanished last year and the year before, suggesting the problem is getting worse.

The revelations will raise fears that the worst sex offenders, such as ‘black cab rapist’ John Worboys who is waiting to find out if the High Court will block his release, could slip through the net after they are let out.

Already this year, 15 convicted sex offenders have disappeared, with officers unable to track them down as of last month. In a number of cases the criminals are thought to have fled overseas.

At least 13 of those missing have been wanted for more than a decade, and at least one has dodged officers since 2005.

Of the 29 out of 45 police forces that responded to Freedom of Information requests by the Daily Mail, most refused to give details of the offences.

Of the forces that provided the dates when the sex criminals went missing, most show a significant jump in instances last year. Police lost track of 114 sex offenders in 2017 – more than twice the 2016 figure of 53 which in itself was more than twice the 25 lost in 2015. The alarming increase suggests that far more needs to be done to prevent sex offenders escaping police supervision.

In London, the Met Police force is unable to find at least 227 sex offenders. Eleven have been lost this year and 79 disappeared in 2017 – nearly double the year before at 38.

Lancashire Constabulary lost track of 12 sex offenders, while there were ten in South Yorkshire. In Kent, there were nine criminals convicted of assaults including intercourse with a girl under 16 and gross indecency who are wanted or missing.

Humberside Police admitted losing nine, with four of those in 2017, up from just one in 2016. South Wales lost track of eight.

In Lincolnshire, one sex offender who had a foreign conviction for rape went missing.

North Wales Police had lost track of two offenders. The figures are accurate as of the end of February and early March.

Under the Sex Offenders Act, all convicted sex offenders must register with the police within three days of their conviction or release from prison. Failure to register can carry a jail term.

Offenders must inform the police within three days if they change their name or address, and disclose if they are spending seven days or more away from their home. Sex offenders must register with their local police every year.

Last night Tory MP Priti Patel described the figures as ‘shocking’. The former minister said: ‘We need urgent assurances that the police and Home Office are doing everything possible to round sex offenders up.’

Worboys, 60, was jailed in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting women passengers. In January the Parole Board ruled that he no longer posed a threat and should be released from a top-security prison.

He is still in jail, pending a High Court hearing next Tuesday which will decide whether he should be released.

Miss Patel said: ‘With the vile John Worboys set to be released, the public will be questioning how we will be kept safe from him when hundreds of offenders have already disappeared.’

Last year it was announced that ‘low-risk’ sex offenders and paedophiles would have fewer home visits by police under cost-cutting plans.

Reports suggested the changes would see up to 16,000 convicts free from regular meetings with officers. Charities said they were concerned it would allow offenders to slip through the net.

‘Shocking figures’