Telford MP in last-ditch bid to stop release of child sex abuser

Telford MP Lucy Allan is concerned that Clive Bundy, who changed gender to become Claire Fox, will be able to use that to disappear from public view.

The victim is understood to be a constituent of Ms Allan's, who is demanding that the chair of the Parole Board and the Lord Chancellor step in before the offender is released. That date is understood to be May 8.

Ms Allan said: "The Parole Board is planning to release this offender halfway through a 15 year sentence.

"The victim who suffered abuse throughout her childhood is horrified that the perpetrator is eligible for early release after only seven years in prison."

She added that the perpetrator was described as manipulative by the trial judge, and has now changed their gender and their name.

"This means that perpetrator can no longer be linked to the crime," said Ms Allan.

"They will be afforded enhanced rights of privacy under the law. I do not have confidence that the Parole Board has given due regard to the risk this presents to society."

Lucy Allan MP said: “Last month, I raised this case in Parliament and called for a change in the law so that convicted sex offenders cannot disguise their criminal record by changing their gender and their name.

"Now I find myself making representations to the Parole Board to refuse the imminent early release of this serious child sex abuser halfway through their sentence.

"The offender has changed their gender and can no longer, by law, be connected with their previous identity or their crime.

"This ‘loophole‘ creates a serious risk to society which the Parole Board has clearly ignored."

On Twitter Ms Allan said her constituent has "had to waive her anonymity to seek justice, whilst the perpetrator’s identity is protected by their new gender identity".

She added: "Victims and society more widely find this completely inexplicable. Society must be protected from serious offenders.”

Ms Allan, speaking in a House of Commons debate on March 2 changed the name of the victim to tell fellow MPs about the case.

“Joanna is an amazing young woman. She is bright, she is brave and she is beautiful. Joanna is a student paramedic and has just started a family. She has her whole life ahead of her," she told MPs.

“Joanna wants her story to be told, because for too long there was silence. It is by speaking out that we secure justice for victims and survivors such as Joanna, and we must listen to their voices.”

For much of her young life, Joanna was a victim of serious sexual abuse.

“She was the victim of a manipulative, depraved man called Clive Bundy,” said Ms Allan.

“The scale and nature of the abuse is beyond comprehension; it was discovered when the police identified sexual images online. Clive Bundy was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison.”

After seven years Clive Bundy is up for parole. But Clive Bundy has changed their name by deed poll, and their gender identity.

Ms Allan said: “Under the law, Clive Bundy no longer exists. Clive Bundy has chosen the name of Claire Fox.

Protected by parliamentary privilege, she added: “Under section 22 of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, we cannot say even that this is so.

“Joanna’s fear is that this new identity erases Clive Bundy, erases the terrible harm that he did, erases Joanna’s experience.

“She fears that the world can refuse to acknowledge that Clive Bundy and his terrible crimes ever even existed – that we can just pretend that the trauma she still suffers, the trauma Clive Bundy caused her and others, did not happen, because he does not exist.”

Ms Allan added: “What is certain is that Claire Fox will be afforded enhanced rights of privacy that should never, ever be afforded to a serious child sex offender. I believe in redemption, I believe in rehabilitation, but that does not and cannot mean that we rewrite the past.

“It does not mean that these truly horrific crimes simply never happened. Joanna wants the names of Clive Bundy and Claire Fox to be linked on official records because Clive Bundy and Claire Fox are the same person.

“The law requires us all to pretend that that is not so: the law requires us to pretend that a convicted serial child sex offender, Clive Bundy, no longer exists.

"The impact on Joanna is deeply distressing. She speaks of her past coming back to haunt her, of the constant fear, of always looking over her shoulder, and of her anxiety that her new life and her young family could be under threat and that she is, in her words, 'once again that young abused scared little girl –that no one protected'.”

“We are told this is a loophole in the Disclosure and Barring Service which can perhaps be fixed, but I am going to call it what it is.

“This is a grotesque injustice to victims – victims whom we failed and victims whom we will fail again if we allow the law to pretend that the crimes of sexual offenders like Clive Bundy can be expunged by deed poll and never referred to again.”

She added: “The question of whether Claire Fox is a continuing threat to society is a matter for the Parole Board, and this is an issue that I will be pursuing with the relevant minister through separate avenues, but today’s debate is about whether sex offenders can erase their identities.

“The rights of victims and the vulnerable matter more than the rights of serial child sex offenders. We all know that that is the case. I therefore ask the minister to be brave enough to say that it is the case, and to have the courage to stand up and change the law for Joanna and for all those victims who will come after if we do not act.”

The Parole Board has been asked for comment.