Suspected Rapists Among 4,000 Who Have Skipped Bail

EIGHT suspected rapists are on the run after jumping bail in London.

The alleged offenders, who were all charged with attacking women in the capital last year, are among almost 4,000 absconders being hunted by the Met.

Another 16 are charged with other sexual offences, according to figures obtained by the Evening Standard under the Freedom of Information Act.

Twenty-two are accused of assault causing grievous bodily harm and 57 are awaiting trial on robbery charges.

Susan Reid of Victim Support said the legal system was failing to protect the public and victims of crimes would feel betrayed.

Victims of sex offences, particularly, had already suffered “considerable trauma”, she said. “To come forward and admit that something like this has happened to you is a huge act ofcourage, so to have come through that and then the person who has done that to you is not properly managed is horrendous.” The list of runaway suspects includes 278 people charged with SEX abusers are increasingly using social networking sites such as Bebo and Facebook to target children, a senior police chief has warned. Jim Gamble, the chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, said: “There is no doubt predators are using these sites Parents must be satisfied that their children are safe using them.”

drink-driving, 264 with shoplifting, 196 with theft, 17 with prostitution and 11 with begging.

In the past 12 months, magistrates in London have issued 18,711 warrants for people who refused to comply with bail conditions. Of those, 14,720 were found by police or had charges dropped but the remainder are still at large, according to the figures.

The Bail Act states that a court should grant bail to an accused person awaiting trial unless there is a proven risk the suspect willabscond, interfere with a witness or re-offend.

This means that to try to prevent bail the prosecution must provide evidence such as a previous disappearance while the suspect was on bail, earlier offences or the use of a high level of violence in the alleged crime. The Ministry of Justice said the number of people failing to appear in court had fallen by more than half since 2004 and only 2.2 per cent of trials were now halted because a defendant failed to attend.

A spokeswoman said: “From 1 January we introduced stricter bail criteria for defendants charged with the most serious offences who fail to appear in court.

Courts must not grant bail to these defendants unless clearly satisfied they will not commit an offence again or fail to surrender.

“The Government has made it clear there will be prison places for those serious, sexual and prolific offenders who ought to be in prison.” The Met said its officers were working hard to find fugitives and had succeeded in capturing the majority.

Meanwhile, separate figures today revealed almost 8,000 sex offenders have been cautioned in England in the past five years, rather than being charged.

Offences involving children accounted for more than 1,600 of the cautions, while more than 230 were for rape. Government guidance states that there are very few cases where cautions are appropriate for rape or offences against children..

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