| Flowers in Gods Garden
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19/12/01 - Man who found Sophie
calls for action
Patrick Fletcher
THE MAN who found the body of Sophie Hook warned last
night that more children would die before there was firm
action on paedophiles. Gerry Davies spoke out over Home
Secretary David Blunkett's refusal to introduce a Sarah's
Law to protect children following the Sarah Payne case.
The rape and murder of eight-year-old Sarah by Roy Whiting
bears worrying similarities to the murder of Sophie at
Llandudno six years ago. Despite a public outcry about
Sophie and the introduction of the sex offenders' register,
Mr Davies said Sarah's case proved the law still did not
go far enough to protect children.
Last night it emerged that the judge in the Sophie Hook
case was the same judge who sentenced Roy Whiting to life
in prison for the rape and murder of Sarah. Mr Justice
Richard Curtis even used the same words to describe the
killers in both cases, denouncing Whiting and Sophie's
killer Howard Hughes as every parent's nightmare come
true.
At the close of Hughes's trial, the judge called on the
Government to take action to protect society from people
like Hughes. And he added, "If such action is taken,
perhaps Sophie Hook will not have died wholly in vain."
But Mr Davies said that despite all the public pressure
for a measure of access to the sex offenders' register
after Sophie's death, the campaign had failed. He was
pessimistic about the success of the campaign for Sarah's
Law being spearheaded by her parents Sara and Michael.
"It is a terrible tragedy that we have had to suffer
the loss of another child because the Government did not
listen," he said. "What the Paynes are calling
for is what we wanted after the trial of Hughes five years
ago. I don't think Sarah's case will change anything.
We will have to see more children murdered and abused
before the Government acts. The only thing that will change
things is a public outcry." Mr Davies is chairman
of Parasol, a North Wales pressure group set up after
Sophie's death to campaign for better protection for children
from paedophiles.
It does not advocate unlimited public access to the sex
offenders' register, but it does want to see parents given
access in circumstances where children could be at risk.
Mr and Mrs Payne met the Home Secretary yesterday to press
their case for access to the sex offenders' register and
tougher sentencing of paedophiles. But they came away
without obtaining their main demand except for a promise
to meet again in the New Year.
Mr Blunkett was not convinced that public access to the
register would help to protect children, said Mrs Payne.
"He did say he is not convinced that it would help.
It's not about whether he feels it will have a negative
impact, but that he's not sure it will help."
Instead they had discussed the idea of disclosure in the
most serious cases to a multi-agency protection panel.
Other ideas discussed at the meeting included a buddy
system that would provide convicted paedophiles with someone
to confide in if they felt tempted to re-offend.
Mrs Payne said, "We have also been talking about
the buddy system, in which the most serious paedophiles
coming out of prison will have someone to turn to and
talk to when they need it most.
"These volunteers will know what they are looking
for and will have access to their previous offences."
patrick.fletcher@wme.co.uk |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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| Flowers in Gods Garden |
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| Paul Pearson |
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| Rosie Palmer |
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| Sophie Hook |
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| Sarah Payne |
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| Victoria Climbie |
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| Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman |
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