THE Government plans to let convicted paedophiles "live" in prisons for their protection and that of society. The idea could go some way towards solving problems like the outcry when sex fiend Robert Oliver came to Brighton two years ago. Crime reporter PHIL MILLS, the only journalist to interview Oliver, reports.

THERE is a convicted child sex attacker currently befriending youngsters on Brighton seafront.

The man has committed no new offences but he is giving police cause for concern. Thanks to the Sex Offenders Act he is registered with police and they are keeping tabs on him.

There are 31 sex offenders registered as living in the Brighton area and another 60 with Brighton addresses who are currently in prison.

It is the highest number in Sussex - 14 live in the Horsham-Crawley area, 22 in Littlehampton-Worthing, 26 in Seaford-Lewes-Hailsham-Eastbourne, nine in Hove, 13 in Haywards Heath and East Grinstead, 20 in Chichester and Bognor and 30 in Hastings and Bexhill.

Not all those registered are paedophiles. Some have been convicted of "minor" indecent assaults and are rehabilitated and living decent lives.

But 13 of those registered in the Brighton area are categorised as high-risk offenders.

Sussex Police stress that the figures do not mean there are dozens of dangerous people stalking children on the streets.

Aspokesman said: "The vast majority of sex offenders offend against children they know and within a family situation."

But the dilemma remains: What does society do with the high-risk offenders?

The Government's answer, so far, is the register and a pilot project to allow offenders the opportunity of "living" in prison.

The scheme, at Nottingham Prison, will allow convicted sex offenders to stay in accommodation within prison buildings after they have served their sentences.

They will be under guard but free to come and go as they please. Prison authorities would alert police should they leave the prison so their movements could be monitored.

It is an idea that has won support among experts in Sussex. Allan Bowman, director of Brighton and Hove social services, who worked on solving the Robert Oliver problem, said: "The idea would plug another gap and if I lived in Nottingham I'd feel more reassured, especially knowing that the moment they stepped out of prison the police would be notified."

Sussex got to know all about high-risk sex offenders after Oliver's arrival in Brighton in 1997.

Oliver served ten years for his part in the killing of 14-year-old Jason Swift in London.

Iinterviewed him and felt that, given half a chance, he would reoffend. He held out a limp hand to shake when I met him, a hand that had wielded such evil.

None of his offences were his fault. He blamed the children: "The boy got into bed with me and started to....". He took pleasure in telling his sickening stories.

Oliver had been seen in a children's library before the Argus published an account of his presence in the community.

Fearing he would be hounded and attacked, he handed himself in to police and remained "living" in a cell until he finally left for Milton Keynes.

Housing him in a cell did much to allay fears in the community and helped the Government formulate its latest "prison home" idea.

Sussex Police, and in particular George Smith, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Jordan and Brighton social services, were praised for their sensitive handling of the case.

It was their groundwork that led to the 1997 Sex Offenders Act, obliging convicted offenders to register with police in the town they are living in. Failure to register can mean jail.

The subsequent Crime and Disorder Act allowed authorities to put people on the register retroactively - if they were convicted before 1997 and were now giving cause for concern then they would be obliged to go on the list.

Police, social services and other agencies hold regular case conferences to monitor registered offenders and any considered at serious risk of reoffending are watched by police.

Sussex Police insists the register and case conference system is helping and they can point to a success in March this year.

Police and probation officers were so concerned about the behaviour of five-times convicted sex offender Mark Jenks after his release that he was put under covert surveillance.

He was arrested again after approaching a girl and boy, both ten, on Southwick Beach, and later jailed for six years for indecent assaults.

Many offenders, Oliver included, are said to be content living an institutional life. The last thing they or society want is an angry mob scenario where suspects, sometimes completely innocent, are hounded.

While the experts agree there is no cast iron protection for society from the Olivers of this world, the latest moves are making society safer.

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