Dedicated team for solving sex offender crime helping to bring more suspects to justice and protect more victims

Our dedicated Sex Offender Crime Investigation Team have been having a significant impact since their formation two-and-a-half years ago, with an 87% solved outcome rate for crimes – the highest in the force.

As the only team of this nature nationally, focused solely on investigating suspected offences of registered sex offenders in Greater Manchester, our commitment to ensuring the safety of vulnerable people in our communities is unwavering.

The team were formed in May 2022 to support with managing sex offenders in the community. They work within our wider Sex Offender Management Unit, and after major success became a permanent fixture in August 2024.

Some of the team members, led by DI Marc Barker (centre) and DCI Jen Tattersall (right)

In the 12 months to August, the team have investigated 473 crimes and solved 408 of those (with 386 charged, the rest received cautions or summons). The vast majority of those put before the courts were sent back to prison, but for those that aren’t, we may use techniques such as polygraphy to further our intelligence picture.

By giving this team responsibility over crime committed by registered sex offenders, it allowed our Offender Managers to focus on regular visits and compliance checks, of which they have conducted over 9,000 in the last year.

Detective Inspector Marc Barker leads the team of 10. He said, “We understand that one of our communities’ biggest concerns is what registered sex offenders are doing post release from prison. It’s our responsibility to make sure that they are complying with their court orders, release conditions and register, and to act swiftly if they aren’t.

“In a typical week, we are charging eight to ten people with offences linked to breaching release conditions. Most of these breaches are for issues like failing to sign on, register a new address or device.

“It’s important that we treat these breaches seriously, to send a message that we won’t tolerate the behaviour, and to deter any more serious breaches, such as committing further sexual offences. If they are willing to breach in these ways, and think they can get away with it, they could be willing to take bigger risks, which put vulnerable people in harm’s way.

“The way that we track these suspects down is robust and knows no borders, including international boundaries. We are connected into many UK and foreign agencies such as DWP, Immigration, Foreign Liaison Office, and Interpol, to ensure we can always locate sex offenders. We’ve even taken nine people off planes this year.

“We also put what are called ‘diffusion notices’ into Interpol when sex offenders do go abroad, as some conditions do allow for that, to ensure the countries they are visiting have all relevant information on these individuals and can take any necessary safeguarding actions. Ultimately, protecting vulnerable people, in particular children, no matter whether they are in our area or not, must be our top priority.”

The team regularly conduct days of action and execute warrants on properties, assisting other teams across the force where their suspects are registered sex offenders.

Another team they have started supporting is the Transport Unit, to ensure sex offenders who have previously committed crimes on public transport are known to our officers policing the network. These officers often patrol in plain clothes, and can proactively intervene to remove these individuals from the network and make arrests.

DI Barker continued, “Our aim is to reassure the public that they can count on us to take the management of sex offenders really seriously; we have made huge strides.”

Overall, in GMP, we have arrested over 3,000 individuals suspected of committing sexual offences, and we are committed to getting justice for victims.