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Camden News - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 26 February 2009

Convicted sex offender worked with children on council contract

A 55-year-old sex offender carried out contract work for Camden Council schools department last year after a police criminal record check failed to disclose convictions for sex offences in Spain.
The man, who cannot be named, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child last November and remains on bail.
It is understood that the man worked as a taxi driver for a company that had a contract ferrying Camden children to and from school last year.
The job required an enhanced criminal record certificate, the highest level of check in the UK. The certificate was granted in 2006 despite the fact that the Met were aware of suspicions about his past.
A Met spokeswoman said yesterday (Wednesday) that police guidelines had been followed when a criminal record check was run in 2006 but that “only a certain amount of information was available at the time”.
When further enquiries were made and no further information was forthcoming from unnamed “relevant authorities”, the decision was made not to disclose any information, she said.
The police cannot comment further on the case while the man is being investigated, she added.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the council said that the contractor had “all the relevant checks and processes in place” and confirmed that the suspected man no longer worked in Camden.
She said: “The council is currently supporting the police investigation into the criminal issues presented in this case.
“The police are also examining the circumstances that led to an enhanced CRB [Criminal Records Bureau] check not providing the full criminal history to an employer.
“We are deeply concerned by this case. All relevant checks were carried out including an enhanced CRB check and the council did all it could to ensure that the contractor had taken appropriate safeguarding measures.
“This case has brought to light the importance of making police records available and we will continue to work with the police to make CRB checking as thorough and revealing as possible.”
The man was reportedly convicted of 15 indecent assaults in Spain in 1991 but jumped bail. Foreign and especially EU convictions for sex offences are supposed to recorded on the Police National Computer, used for criminal record checks.

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