72 sex offenceorders in city

SEVENTY-TWO paedophiles, rapists and flashers are currently subject to sex offence prevention orders in Londonderry, the Justice Minister David Ford has revealed.

A total of 526 sex offenders are subject to Sexual Offences Prevention Orders (SOPO) across the province: 145 in Belfast, 75 in Ards, 73 in Antrim, 63 in Fermanagh and Tyrone, 60 in Craigavon and 38 in Armagh and South Down.

Mr Ford said he was not able to identify which orders had been breached without an extensive manual tracking exercise for each individual record which would incur disproportionate cost.

But he did reveal that seven people in Londonderry have been convicted of breaching SOPOs since 2007 and that a further five sex offenders in Londonderry are currently charged with breaches of SOPOs.