March 10, 2015 9.48 am This story is over 108 months old

Sex offenders missing in Lincolnshire, figures show

Missing sex offenders: Six registered Sex Offenders (RSO) have gone missing from police records in Lincolnshire according to latest figures.

Photo: The Lincolnite

Six Registered Sex Offenders (RSO) have gone missing from police records in Lincolnshire according to latest figures.

RSOs are required by law to inform authorities of their movements in order to be monitored.

Figures released by 39 forces under a Press Association Freedom of Information request showed that 349 sex offenders’ whereabouts were unknown.

Of the total off the radar, 167 were reported missing by the Metropolitan Police and one sex offender had been missing since 2000.

In reaction to the figures, charity NSPCC said around half of those on the register were offenders who had raped or sexually assaulted children, or committed offences relating to indecent images of children.

In Lincolnshire, at the date of the FOI request, the number of RSOs where their location was unknown was seven. This figure has since been reduced to six.

The data revealed two offenders had been missing since 2006, two had been missing since 2009 and three people had been missing since 2014.

The names of the missing offenders were not disclosed by the force or the principle offence they were convicted of.

A Lincolnshire Police spokesperson said: “Lincolnshire Police currently have six registered sex offenders that cannot be traced to a specific address.

“This is less than 1% of all Registered Sex Offenders (RSO) resident in the community in Lincolnshire.

“Of those six individuals at least four are believed to be outside the UK. Where it has been possible to identify that a registered sex offender is outside the UK, efforts have been made to locate them to an area.

“In all cases information has been shared with the country they are believed to be resident in for enquiries and safeguarding action to be taken.

“Lincolnshire Police continue to actively monitor all registered sex offenders and where they are missing enquiries continue to locate them, these enquiries do not cease until they are located.

“Should the individuals who are missing be located by police in any part of the UK or upon entry to the UK then they will be arrested for failing to comply with their notification requirements. This offence has a maximum sentence of five years in custody.”