Isle of Wight Sex Offender Arrested After Absconding and Breaching Notification Requirements

A 23-year-old man, identified as Willett, was arrested on the Isle of Wight on Wednesday, June 5th, after absconding from his approved premises in Waterlooville and breaching his sex offender notification requirements.

Willett had been released from prison and was subject to notification requirements, including informing police of any change of address and registering online usernames. He had failed to comply with these requirements, absconding from his approved premises and creating unregistered online usernames.

Following his arrest, Willett was charged with two counts of breaching his sex offender notification requirements. He was also recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions, and will serve the remainder of his previous sentence.

Willett admitted to the notification requirement breaches at Isle of Wight Magistrates Court and was handed an additional eight-month prison term. He was also ordered to pay £85 in costs and a £128 victim surcharge.

Acting Detective Inspector Mark Edis expressed gratitude to the local community for their support in locating Willett. He highlighted the importance of licence conditions and notification requirements in protecting the public and preventing re-offending.

"We are very grateful to the local community who supported our efforts to locate Willett after he absconded. Licence conditions and notification requirements are legally binding, and are put in place to protect the public by ensuring individuals do not re-offend. There are of course those individuals, like Willett, who show absolute disregard for this. We invest significant resources into the management of sex offenders and the protection of the public, and take this duty very seriously. We hope that the swift action taken by police reassures the community of this, and that we will make every effort to put those who still choose to offend right back where they belong - in prison," said Edis.