A CRISIS in the funding of sex offender monitoring could put the public at risk, a leading prisoner rehabilitation charity warned last night.
Sacro, an organisation which currently monitors 30 rapists and paedophiles released from prison, says cash shortages have already resulted in some offenders escaping close scrutiny when they return to the community.
Last night, Keith Simpson, head
of development and research at Sacro, confirmed that the sex offenders' projects were threatened as a result of a cut in funding. "We provide 24/7 monitoring of high-risk offenders after they are released from prison. These people need a high level of supervision and if we get to the point where public safety is put at risk that would be very dangerous indeed. And that is a worry, that the current situation could lead to that."
In Scotland, the consequences of failing to check the behaviour of sex offenders has been cruelly illustrated by the horrifying murders of nine-year-old Scott Simpson and Mark Cummings, eight, both of whom were killed by convicted paedophiles.
Sacro receives just under £1m from central Government. The remainder of its income comes from local authority contracts that are under severe pressure. "Our funding is being squeezed," Simpson said. "We have already seen the loss of services such as bail supervision services over the past six months. We have seen funding reviewed by local authorities. Our budget fell from £10m to £9m over the last year and we are in line to lose another 10% in the coming year. The services that we provide are all under threat and that's obviously very concerning."
It costs around £100,000 per year to provide round-the-clock supervision for a single sex offender as part of Scotland's so-called "intensive support and monitoring services".
According to Simpson, the Government has cut intensive support and monitoring services funding by 10%, leaving hard-pressed local authorities to pick up the shortfall.
Simpson claimed that anecdotal evidence suggested that more high-risk offenders were being downgraded to so-called "supported accommodation" in the community, which does not provide 24/7 supervision.
Sacro looks after around 500 people – costing £10,000 per year each – in supported accommodation, which sees offenders receive a daily visit instead of 24-hour monitoring.
"More and more high-risk people are being referred to supported accommodation," Simpson said. "I'm picking that up from talking to different people around the country. That could put public safety at risk, if supervision is not sufficient."
The importance of monitoring sex offenders has been emphasised by figures released by the Government last year which showed that nine high-risk criminals were convicted of further serious crimes during 2008.
It is estimated that there are almost 1,000 high-risk sex offenders being supervised by police and other agencies in Scotland.
Richard Baker, Labour's justice spokesman, said that he did not want a repeat of murders such as the killing of Mark Cummings, who was strangled by Stuart Leggate in 2004.
Leggate, 28, has been jailed for 20 years after throwing Mark's body down a refuse chute in Glasgow. He had previous convictions for sexually assaulting children and was able to kill the youngster despite being on the sex offenders' register.
Eleven years ago Scott Simpson was murdered by another convicted paedophile Stephen Leisk in Aberdeen at a time when the sex offender was supposed to be under close supervision.
Baker commented: "This could be extremely dangerous. Sacro looks after some of the most dangerous offenders in our communities and this is deeply concerning."
