Advice needed - delicate situation

[Gavi]

Hi this is my first thread, I just wondered if anyone could offer a bit of advice on a complex and difficult situation.

My Dh's family are very complicated and fragmented. We have 2 dc's, DS is 5 and DD is 1, and they see my MIL and step-FIL about twice a month. The problem is, I have heard from a family member a rumour that DH's stepdad was in trouble for sexually interfering with a young girl about 20 years ago. He's about 65 now. Is there any way I can find out if he's ever been on a sex offenders register without any of the family knowing I've been checking?

The woman who told me is a bit of a trouble maker, but it seems a very weird thing to lie about. I confronted my DH about it but he said that if it had been true then social services would surely never have let him live with MIL's children. I don't want to cause trouble in an already damaged family but I also don't want my children at risk. FIL isn't the most pleasant person anyway and I do everything I can to avoid the kids being alone with him. But dh adores his stepdad and I don't want to hurt him uneccessarily.

The woman who told me is adamant it's true but nobody seems to believe her. It's just not something I can simply forget and so I just wondered if anyone knows of any way of finding out about a person's past convictions.

Thanks and hope this all makes sense.

If the alleged offence was committed 20 years ago it's unlikely that you're going to be able to discover anything about it because the requirement to register was not imposed until the implementation of the Sex Offenders Act 1997.

If you know where he was living at the time of the alleged offence(s), you could try searching the archives of any local newpapers who may possibly have reported the matter.

Alternatively, you could try a 'deep search' of his name on the net as it may be linked to a newspaper article or similar.

Thank you so much for your replies, I'm going to try to do some research and hopefully put my mind at rest.

You could try the library for back issues of newspapers if it were something public and reported on at the time, maybe the person who told you about it could give more info?