Police set to monitor rapist over fears he is still a risk

A FORMER chef who stalked lone women through the streets of Edinburgh at night and raped one victim on her doorstep is to be put under close police monitoring amid fears he is still a risk to the public.

Vincent Walker, who once worked in top-flight hotels and restaurants, was jailed for six years in 2001 for raping a 23-year-old woman in Pilrig.

Police chiefs have now been granted a sexual offence prevention order (Sopo) against 39-year-old Walker which will run for the next five years.

The move comes as police today revealed that 49 sex offenders living in Lothian and Borders are currently the subject of Sopos, which can impose restrictions on where a person can live and ban them from approaching women they do not know.

Police chiefs would not reveal what restrictions have been placed on Walker under his Sopo, but said the orders were used to monitor sex criminals with a "perceived risk of reoffending".

Walker, who formerly lived in Newhaven and is now thought to live in Leith, admitted assaulting his first victim with intent to rape in Gorgie in February 2001 and was convicted by a jury of raping a second victim in Hopetoun Street on August 27 in the same year.

The court heard that Walker's first victim, a 23-year-old student, identified him from photographs and subsequently picked him out at an ID parade.

The court heard that psychiatrists who had examined Walker considered he had "an organic personality disorder" which should be further investigated.

A police spokesman said today: "Lothian and Borders Police do not comment on individual restriction orders. However, we are committed to working with our partner agencies to promote public safety."

The spokesman added: "Sexual offences prevention orders are issued to monitor offenders where there is a perceived risk of reoffending and place restrictions on their behaviour."

The specialist unit tasked with monitoring offenders with Sopos has mounted surveillance operations at parks, private homes and public toilets.

The team keeps tabs on them with regular visits and interviews, as well as working with partner agencies such as health boards, social workers and councils.

A number of high-profile sex offenders have been hit with Sopos in the Lothians.

In December last year, convicted rapist Keith Martin, 44, faced jail for breaching his Sopo by forming a relationship with a girl aged about five, and shamed weightlifting champion Alan Ogilvie, 41, was jailed for three years in November last year for tricking young boys into taking part in internet "cyber-sex" sessions and breaking his Sopo.Paedophile Richard Duff, 33, was jailed in May 2008 for breaching a Sopo banning him from playgrounds and parks for a third time. In 2004, he became the first person in the Lothians to be handed a Sopo.