Gaps in UK legal system allow known sex offenders to travel overseas to commit ‘extensive abuse of children’ – report

Registered sex offenders in Britain are being allowed to travel abroad to target vulnerable children because of “gaps” in the UK legal system, an inquiry has found.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) found that offenders from England and Wales are going overseas to “commit extensive abuse of children,” including in Asia and Africa. It said travel restrictions are too infrequently placed on offenders to restrict them from taking advantage of children in poor and corrupt countries, who may be all the more vulnerable.

Chair of the Inquiry Professor Alexis Jay claims the issue is an “urgent problem” the UK cannot hide from. He explained that there were “gaps in our legal system” that were allowing known offenders to target children in developing countries, which was “simply not acceptable.”

As of March 31, 2018, just 0.2 percent of the 58,637 registered sex offenders in England and Wales had their overseas travel restricted.

The report highlighted high-profile cases, including that of singer Gary Glitter (real name Paul Gadd), who sexually abused children in Asia after being convicted of possessing indecent pictures of kids in the UK.

Another notorious offender to be singled out was Richard Huckle - known as “Britain's worst paedophile.” He was convicted in 2016 of 71 counts of serious sexual assaults against children while employed as a teacher in Malaysia. Huckle was stabbed to death in his prison cell on October 13, 2019.

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