A woman (I’ll call her Kim) started working in our company in May. She seems lovely and great at her job role and gets on with everyone which is brilliant as this makes everyone else’s job easier. A few of us commented she’s almost too good to be true as she’s fitted in so well and nothing is too much trouble for her.
Then this past weekend I received a message from a friend asking if it’s true that Kim is now working at the same company as me. I said yes it’s true and she proceeded to tell me that Kim’s boyfriend is a convicted sex offender who recently spent time in prison. She followed this up with links to the newspaper articles from the court hearings with photos of him and the articles go into great detail of his offences towards children and says he has a sexual harm prevention order which prohibits him from contact with children.
I have double and triple checked and this is 100% the same guy as he picks her up from work a couple of times a week so I see him. And it’s the same name.
The problem is, is that she leaves her young children from a previous relationship (9 & 12 years old) with him whilst she comes to work and I know that he stays over at hers and they often holiday together.
I cannot get my head around this and keep rereading the newspaper articles thinking I must have missed something. Why on earth would anyone consider being with anyone who had done such things let alone leave their children with him! (He admitted his guilt and the police had video evidence).
She must know what he’s done as their relationship started before his court case and must know that he’s been in prison as she told us she had a difficult couple of years recently as her partner had to ‘go abroad to work for a couple or years’ so they were separated.
And if he has a sexual harm prevention order, why has it not been flagged up that he’s spending time alone with children by whoever is monitoring him?
I just don’t understand. I know I need to report this which I am planning to do at the weekend, but should I be informing my boss too? (We work with the public and that includes children).
I’m sorry if I’m sounding dense as really it’s a no-brainer but I keep hoping I’ve got it all wrong somehow even though I know I haven’t. I really don’t want this information and I certainly don’t want to stir up trouble at work.
I just feel sick and can’t sleep since I found out.