Housing associations launch legal bid over sex-offender numbers

A LEGAL bid to discover the number of sex offenders living in their communities has been launched by three housing associations.

They fear poorer areas are burdened with a disproportionate number of registered sex offenders (RSOs), but a request to Strathclyde Police for the data was rejected.

Scotland’s Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion then ruled in February that the force had dealt with the request in accordance with freedom of information laws.

Mr Dunion said the disclosure of the information could identify sex offenders, which would breach the “first data protection principle”.

The housing associations – Blochairn and Craigdale in Glasgow and Dunbritton in Dumbarton – were given 42 days to appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law, and have now lodged an appeal.

Blochairn Co-operative director Michael Carberry said: “We are not about stirring up vigilantism. We expressly do not want names and addresses or to be able to identify any individual. We are looking for statistical evidence that can inform a proper debate.”

Strathclyde Police said even speculation about the number of RSOs within a large geographic area leads to attempts to identify the individuals.

The consequence of this would be the offender fearing attack and possibly fleeing from the area, breaching the terms of their registration and supervision, police said.

It was also likely a minority of individuals may attempt to physically harm the offender, or individuals wrongly suspected of being the offender, or hound them from the area, the force said.

Mr Dunion concluded in his report of February 16: “The commissioner finds that the chief constable of Strathclyde Police acted in accordance with Part 1 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.”