Website prompts sex offender arrests

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has claimed some early successes for its Most Wanted website.

It said in the past five months postings on the site had led to the arrests of five sex offenders who had failed to notify the authorities of their whereabouts. They were tracked down after public sightings in the UK and overseas.

CEOP also said the site has registered over 12 million hits from people in 130 countries since it went live last November.

"Most Wanted is going from strength to strength," said CEOP chief executive officer Jim Gamble. "It was designed in association with Crimestoppers to engage with the public to help find individuals who mistakenly believe they can skip registration and hide from the authorities.

"Five months on, 12 million hits and five located offenders is proof it is achieving just that. We have been overwhelmed by the strength of support we have received, not just in the UK but throughout Europe.

"This initiative demonstrates the positive impact of an initiative which enables members of the public to work alongside the police in a responsible approach to tracking missing offenders."

Police are now asking for the public's help in finding three offenders who are new to the site: Andrew Jeremy Eden, Stephen Lionel Gordon, and Daniel Mark Joslin.

This article was originally published at Kablenet.

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