Guernsey Press

Paedo-hunter says delay in grooming law is ‘disgusting’

THE introduction of a grooming law in Guernsey is long overdue, according to a Jersey activist who traps paedophiles.

Published
Jersey mother-of-two Cheyenne O’Connor, who has posed as a child online to trap paedophiles, outside the island’s courts. (Picture by Peter Mourant, 20862829)

A States report from 2011 identified that some of Guernsey’s sexual offences laws were 100 years old.

Home Affairs has pledged to take proposals to the States to bring Guernsey in line with equivalent legislation in the UK.

But eight years after that report, nothing has been put before deputies.

In 2016, the committee said it planned to take a new sexual offenders law to the States by the middle of the following year.

Now it says it hopes to do so in early 2019 but has refused to be more specific.

Once the law is approved it will still require ratification by the Privy Council ahead of registration in Guernsey.

During the past 16 months, mother-of-two Cheyenne O’Connor, 25, has posed as a child online in order to trap offenders.

She sends details to police and her efforts to date have led to the convictions of 13 people in Jersey and three in the UK. Four more cases are pending.

‘It was only recently that I discovered there are no grooming laws in Guernsey and I think it’s disgusting,’ she said.

‘Grooming is happening to real children and I think I’ve proved that. We have to move with the times. Kids live on the internet these days and grooming laws should be there already.’

Home Affairs president Deputy Mary Lowe said her committee was committed to delivering three separate work streams regarding updating the vetting and barring legislation and the sexual offences legislation and introducing new legislation to protect children from accessing internet pornography.

‘Enhancements to the existing vetting and barring scheme are currently being developed in co-ordination with other jurisdictions,’ she said.

‘The aim of these changes is to bring Guernsey in line with the equivalent legislation in the UK. This is a high priority on the legislative drafting priority list.

‘The modernised and reformed sexual offences law will provide better legislation to criminalise inappropriate sexual behaviour.’

It is aiming to bring this to the States in early 2019.

‘Controls on internet pornography will follow the planned introduction in the UK of legislation for an age verification regime aimed at protecting children from exposure to internet pornography.

‘It is anticipated proposals to ensure Guernsey can offer the same protection as the UK will be presented in the coming months.’

A spokesman for the NSPCC said: ‘It is alarming that gaps still remain in Guernsey’s sexual offences legislation, leaving children unprotected from some of the most serious of crimes.

‘Proposed changes have taken too long to come to fruition and immediate action is required to ensure the most vulnerable people in our society – children - are protected by law.

‘Implementing the changes as swiftly as possible will bring Guernsey in line with the UK, and into the 21st century, in terms of helping keep children safe from sexual abuse, grooming and exploitation.’