Articles from the Sunday Times

How to stop a paedophile
Bill Wigmore on a new scheme that changes behaviour



Fred was every parent?s nightmare, a young man who had sexually assaulted a child he did not know. It was his first offence and he had served 18 months in prison. Now he was out under licence and heading for trouble.
Solitary, not very bright and with few social skills, Fred has for the past three years been part of an experiment in the Thames Valley in managing the behaviour of paedophiles at large in the community.

Called Circles, this Quaker initiative started in Canada in 1994, since when the reoffending rate of released sex offenders there has been cut by more than half, from 7.1% to less than 3%.

The Home Office is evaluating its effectiveness in the Thames Valley where, out of 48 registered serious sex offenders, none reoffended in the year from April 2003.

Circles involves local volunteers, specially trained and screened by the police, who ?befriend? paedophiles and offer help with housing, the benefits system or a job, in return for accountability.

The surrogate ?friends? leave their charge in no doubt that dangerous, odd or worrying behaviour will be reported to the authorities.

Fred?s behaviour became worrying. He did not got on well with the first Circle he was assigned to, feeling uncomfortable with their cerebral, middle-class and high-minded approach.

New ?friends? were chosen but he began missing meetings and started a relationship with a vulnerable single mother, leaving his registered address and moving in with her and her children.

The relationship ended once Fred?s girlfriend was confronted with his past. But, alone at his registered address and without a girlfriend, he again presented a potential danger.

?It?s when these people feel isolated and friendless that the risk of reoffending is highest,? says Pam Welch, a senior probation officer who specialises in sexual offenders.

?They feel that if the world considers them a monster they may as well behave like a monster ? at least there will be some feeling of pleasure, some measure of control.?

Paedophiles can never be cured, only managed, says Welch. ?It?s exactly the same as an alcoholic. They will always remain alcoholics, even though they may be dry. It?s dangerous to assume that any of them will ever be cured.?

As a probation officer she has heard all the excuses, from ?she didn?t say no? and ?she seemed to be smiling? to ?she kept coming back to me?.

Among the Circle now helping Fred is Janet, a blunt, no-nonsense housewife with children of her own. The idea is that when he meets her for a cup of coffee or a drink, he is learning how to interact with his own age group rather than fantasising about children.

But how real is the ?friendship? offered by such volunteers? ?It?s a kind of friendship, but I would qualify that,? says Janet. ?Because I?ve got three daughters I can?t possibly let Fred know where I live, or what my phone number is. Contact is always by mobile phone.?