What would you have done/do?

sturll

About 16 years ago 2 of my cousins were raped (both males aged 3 & 6) by their step father. When he eventually got caught it turned out he had raped some little girls of similar ages form the surrounding area. He was sentenced to prison. My two cousins are both completely off the rails and speaking to my mother today she explained how the other 2 girls had both had their lives ruined.

Today in Tesco in Batley i saw him. The first time in 16 years. I stared at him and instantly recognised him, his tattoos everything. He was with a woman. I know he recognised me and said nothing when i took my phone out and took 2 photos of him. He is a pathetic weed of a man and made a sharp exit. A word was never spoken. Had i not had my kids with me things may have been different.

Driving home all sorts were going through my mind, i should have said something, i should have told the woman he was with, i should have kept quiet and just followed him home then passed his address onot my cousins. All sorts went through my mind. Either way its done now.
But i have to admit it annoyed me how this man has ruined so many lives yet walks round free and happy.

The question is what would you have done? Or indeed what would you do now?

kittiej

Followed him home and then leafleted everyone in his street.

AnnieM_3

I'm sorry to hear about your dilemma - it must have been a shock seeing this man. As tempting as it must have been to say something, or follow him home, you probably did the right thing.

I would imagine he is on the sex offender list? The thing you could maybe do is speak to the local police if you think he might be in contact with any children. Are people on the list supposed to inform police/probation/social services if they might be in a situation where they are in contact with children? They might be able to just check up on his whereabouts and make sure everything is ok.

eamon

Do as Annie says and contact the police. It is feasible that he may not be on the list given the age of his original conviction. At the very least you will have eased your conscience.

dmg24

I would agree with AnnieM, as tempting as it would be to take action yourself, I would contact the police if you believed that he may have contact with children.

Whilst I think that what he did was utterly vile, I don't think that anybody would gain from steps being taken to disrupt his life now. If he is not in contact with children, and therefore not likely to commit an offence at this time, actions such as contacting his current partner or making his neighbours aware may have an extremely negative effect. For example, he may disappear off the radar and consequently be free to commit more offences in an area where he is not known.

Barneysmom

Sturll I'd be pretty sure that the police know exactly whjere he is living and what he's doing.
I'd have been rooted to the spot, I probably wouldn't have had the wherewithall that you did, to take his photo. You were brave.
You seeing him has been a shock and stirred up some memories, you are stronger now and it would be easier for you to react, to warn others.
But you may never see him again, so try and put it behind you. The only person upset is you. Not him. He's out of prison and likely living the life of Reilly whoever he is with, hemight even commit another hideous disgusting crime. He probably will.
But nothing you do or say will prevent it. It's horrible to think he's been let out onto our streets, when he should have been hung.
These people are very clever, very wily.

But the police make it their business to know where these freaks of nature live.
Thinking about it now, you might if you see him with a lady ask her if she knows his history?

I have been on a similar situation, it never goes away.
Take care xx

SuziQ

I agree mostly with dmg but my experience is that thesesort of men are ALWAYS in contact with children-I know I am likely to be flamed for this but my 20 yearsworking in child protection only convinced me that there is no treatment that 'cures' these men-despite counselling,prison,follow uo and psychiatric care the truth is that the same names cameup over and over again and would move around the country to new areas after release from prison and immediately hook up with other perverts (no aplogies for the word) and start looking for vulnerable women with children to move in.In many ways,the men capable of having any sort of relationship with women are far more dangerous than the sinle 'odd' blokes who live alone,as they are much less likely to be percieved as'normal' and more capable of putting up a front to convince neighbours,employers etc.

I have just realised how glad I am to be out of that type of work now!

Stephb1986_2

Im not sure what i would do but perverts like this should have a tatoo on their forehead telling kids and other adults to keep away from them, i know this doesnt protect kids on the internet but its a sure way of making other neighbourhoods safer.

People like that disgust me utterly, a few years ago we was living next door but one to a peadophile but didnt know until he was recently caught but they didnt put him in prison because he was old and in a wheelchair he was just moved to another part of the country and got protection! he made out that he was a great person to the pubilc he spoke out at all these council meetings when he was doing something so sick! the only place he was sick was in his head!

Steph xx

onlyroz

How long would he have been out of prison?

You might just have to accept that, while what he did was evil, he has served his sentence and is presumably being monitored.

foreversomeday

Hi, I would contact the police or crimestoppers just to make them aware, they will not think you are wasting their time and crimestoppers allows you to be anonymous (although this doesn't sound like it would be an issue)

You can even do it online through their website here:
http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/

ETA: I would take along the picture too so you can show them in case they don't have a recent description.

Paparika

Depending on how long his sentence was for and if he was on licence when he came out, it's likely he went to an approved premises first as part of his licence, if that was the case then the woman already knows,