Sex offenders face tough new controls

Wednesday 19th August 2009, 2:57PM BST.

Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand

THE police will be able to tell private individuals about paedophiles to help prevent offences, under plans in the new Sex Offenders Law.

The law, which is going to the States in October, would set up a sex offenders register in Jersey and allow the police chief to share information on it with other police forces and agencies, and members of the public.

But the disclosures would have to be specific and targeted to ‘prevent, detect, investigate or prosecute an offence’. There is no provision within the law for any information to be openly published.

The law was lodged today by Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand, and its cost has more than doubled since an initial estimate last year. At the beginning of 2009, £177,000 was allocated to fund the law, but the estimated cost is now more than £431,000.

Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.