My neighbour is a convicted paedophile

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I've just found out from another neighbour that the man two doors down, who we chat to regularly and are friendly with, has been convicted of horrific child pornography charges. Like, the worst. It's really thrown me, I have a two year old and a four year old and I want them to be able to play in their garden without worrying about him watching or worse.
We live on a really small street which the name of was reported in the local paper so I am also a bit worried about potential vigilante type actions. I am obviously hoping he moves away (his marriage has collapsed so I'm hoping he financially has to) but no sign of that yet. Incredibly he got a suspended sentence, what a joke. Am I unreasonable to feel like I want to move?! What do I do?

This happened to a friend of mine. Realised her and her family were next door to a pedophile. They couldn’t move due to a lack of affordable housing options. They did however set up their garden with trees, trellises and sun shades so the children couldn’t be overlooked in the summer. They also put cctv around the boarder just in case. My friend did speak to him and tell him they knew and never ever to approach or speak to their children. All the neighbours knew and he was barely seen again.

Oh god. I read this and instantly worried that you were my neighbour!

We were in the exact same situation recently. The man in question had spent years chatting to us, offering to tutor my son, buying him presents (we did always keep him at an arms length and didn't pass on the presents etc) until one day the police appears to warn us what had happened but told us we cannot tell anyone because of the threat of vigilantism. We told them to tell him to stay the hell away from us, never approach us and never try and speak to us which the did.
He tried to speak to me about my son a day or so later so I firmly told him to stay away from me and my family, he was warned by the police and while I won't disclose the reason, I also won't deny if people ask. He backed off and complained about me to the police.
Anyways, a family moved in a couple doors down from him and they have two small children. I've reported this to the police officer/case worker to make them aware but obviously I can't tell the family as the police would then know it's me.
It's an awful situation to be in.

I do think better the devil you know. I know that this man is a risk so I can be extra vigilant around him, I've told my son if he ever tried to speak to him he has full permissions to be as rude as he needs to be to get this man away. He doesn't know the full extent as to why, we've just told him that the man is a bad guy.

Makes you feel sick though

Agree with others, there are paedophiles everywhere. I know of two teachers convicted in last two years. One taught my DC (secondary), got a suspended sentence- was accessing it online. The other was a physical abuser, local to me. I had been to his house and spoken to him not long before it all came out.
Now you know you’re empowered not to speak to him and protect your DC.

On a practical note if he has windows that can see into your garden for summer if get some sail shades and a gazebo so block his view.

I would be letting any new neighbours with children / grandchildren to be aware and that they should google the street name and the conviction.

Sadly child sexual predators seem to be allowed to walk free. Shame they can’t all have a tattoo slap bang on their foreheads letting the world know what monsters they are.

I clearly remember Ian 'H' Watkins the Welsh singer from Steps getting a tonne of abuse and harassment because of Ian Watkins the Welsh paedophile singer from The Lost Prophets.

With all due respect if he was found guilty of ‘like the worst’ he WOULD NOT have got a suspended sentence. He would be in jail. Before you do/say anything check with the police, I mean news articles are always 100% reliable aren’t they? You really don’t want to get yourself in trouble.

She can stop talking to him and cut him dead for any reason he wants.

She doesn't have to check with the police that the newspaper got every single detail right.

I get it OP as it would make me feel sick to know one is so close. I don't know if anything can be done to block your garden from his view but if you can I'd do it. Make sure your kids know he's not a safe person and to not speak to him no matter what. Don't speak to him yourself, make your dislike for him known. Get cameras and be vigilant.

Yup.

I'm in the NHS and have had 2 colleagues go to prison for CSA. One a nurse abusing his 14 year old stepdaughter and 1 a senior Psychiatrist who went to prison for several offences, some being CSAM.

They were both struck off but at the time the Psychiatrist was struck off and I was looking at the publicly available medical hearings website, there were a couple I looked at where medics convicted of CSAM who didn't receive custodial sentences who weren't struck off incredibly.

I totally understand where you’re coming from and how you feel you need to approach him as your instinct as a parent is to protect your children and rightly so. I wouldn’t approach him but just try to keep my distance from him as much as possible. You can only hope he moves away which he may well do as I’m sure he knows that most people will be aware of his conviction. He’ll also be registered on the sex offenders register and any breaches will see him imprisoned. I get you want to inform others but I’d probably be careful who I told, as this could have a detrimental effect when you came to sell your house. You don’t want to live near a paedophile understandably so, but potential buyers will think the same.

Look up David Finkelhor, he wrote the book (in fact many) on paedophiles.

He recommends the equivalent of a sign on your lawn saying "this house is being watched" - so let him know you know, let him know he can't speak to your children, be clear that he needs to keep his distance.

He does have to live somewhere and the prisons can't take all the men currently sexually abusing children by seeking out these images but he needs to know not to go anywhere near your kids and that the community is watching him.

You'd have thought he'd be in prison. But he's not. So there we are. As someone else posted, there's not enough space.

I used to work for a local authority as a minute taker on a child protection team. If people realised how many sex offenders in particular paedophiles live within a two mile radius of them they'd be horrified.

I'd feel exactly the same way.
The scary reality though is that most of us will live near someone like him. The numbers of people caught are horrifying enough, but there'll be many, many more that haven't been yet.

I was told this by a police officer but he said 'within just a few streets'.

None of us know what people are looking at online.

Which is why moving house is futile.

There will be convicted and unconvicted criminals just about everywhere. Your neighbour could be a domestic abuser. The man over the road could be a serial car thief. The woman at the bottom of the road could be a drug dealer.

As with all things, you remain vigilant and tell your children to avoid him.

In this instance I think I would actually be more worried about the risk of my house being attacked by vigilantes who get the address wrong.

Last year, I found out the same thing regarding a neighbour (via a newspaper article). His wife has stood by him!

I know paedophiles have to live somewhere but knowing they are a stones throw away from your own home and loved ones leaves you feeling very uneasy doesn't it?

Sadly, there is nothing you can do. My dc are older but I do know that many of my neighbours with young dc are extra cautious now.

No, he wouldn't. Sentences in the UK are incredibly light. I know of a few cases due to my line of work and honestly, paedophiles get away very easily in the UK. The courts and the police don't have resources to care, there isn't enough space in the prisons, and he was "just" watching stuff.

You are so wrong. These days we know of two local ones. A vicar and a teacher with families who walked away with suspended sentences. The local press reported everything. People here are furious. It's been downgraded as a crime it seems.

Sorry for you, OP, that’s awful. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of people telling you that paedophiles have to live somewhere and you need to get over it. I don’t have practical advice unfortunately, but you don’t need to accept it.

Demonstratably incorrect.

The sentencing guidelines for possession of the 'worst' category A of CSAM starts at 26 weeks custody which can mean immediate custody or a suspended custodial sentence.

What can she do about it then if she 'doesn't need to accept it'?

Move to another area with paedophiles that she doesn't know about?

Came here to say this. Can people stop saying 'CP'

Yeah, no, this is completely wrong. An ex-colleague was convicted of the highest category offences, but had a suspended sentence.

It's not even that, though that's a factor, it's the sentencing guidelines.

Sentencing starts at 26 weeks custodial for possession of category A CSAM which can mean immediate custody or can be suspended.

That's why the news report will have said something like 'given a 6 month custodial sentence, suspended for 2 years'.

Which means if he reoffends or doesn't comply with his suspended sentence order, his probation officer takes the case back to court and he goes to prison to serve his sentence there.

If not, he stays out of prison but once he's served his suspended sentence, he'll be on the sex offenders register for however long the judge imposed and have to comply with that till that's spent.