A CONVICTED paedophile, who secretly filmed young children at schools, has been housed a short walk from THREE kiddies’ nurseries and TWO primary schools.
Vile Brian Wilkinson, 64, was jailed in September 2001 for five years for collecting 100,000 indecent photos of children as young as six-months-old being raped and abused by adults.
4
4
4
The sicko also preyed on kids by covertly filming them in school playgrounds, in parks and in public changing rooms.
He then shared the disturbing content with predators around the world through online chat rooms.
At sentencing the judge said he had no hesitation in sending Wilkinson to jail, because if he did not “the general public would be rightly horrified”.
He said: “It is abominably clear that you are a paedophile. You are attracted to children of both sexes.”
Now it has emerged that bungling officials in a Greater Manchester council housed Wilkinson in a supported living facility in close proximity to several schools.
Wilkinson’s home is literally surrounded by hundreds of children on a daily basis.
Just across the road from his block in a leafy residential area is a children’s nursery.
A short walk from his front door there’s two primary schools, one of which caters for children as young as three.
And a quick look at a map shows the beast is also a short walk from another two nurseries in the suburban area.
The Sun monitored Wilkinson as he strolled from his accommodation to a nearby garage shop to pick up some lunch.
He passed mums walking with kids and pushing strollers – parents who were oblivious to the vile paedophile’s crimes.
When our reporter confronted the beast and asked him about his close proximity to kids, Wilkinson wasn’t impressed.
“Leave me alone, I’m cured now, that was in the past, that’s over, I’m a cured man now. It happened ten years ago. I don’t go out anywhere, I just go to the garage, that’s all I ever do.”
When asked if he still likes to film kids in school playgrounds, he replied: “I’ve got no cameras or nothing, I’m not interested in them (children) anymore.”
Wilkinson, a former volunteer youth worker, was snared by cops after he was seen filming youngsters in a park.
Detectives raided his home and discovered he had built up a collection of 100,000 indecent photos and images of young children.
The images showed kids naked or involved in sex acts with male adults.
Wilkinson also filmed kids in changing rooms and school playgrounds over 20 years and swapped pictures with paedophiles based in Texas, Holland and Denmark.
When detectives seized the material from his home in Greater Manchester, in September 2001 they said it was the biggest seizure of such material in the UK.
He pleaded guilty to 41 specimen counts of possessing, making and distributing indecent photographs of children between August 1998 and September 2001 and was jailed for five years.
Wilkinson was also banned from working with children and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Outside court, Detective Constable Andrea Bradley, of Greater Manchester Police’s abusive images unit, said: “This is the largest and most disturbing collection of images I have investigated and it clearly illustrates the extent of Wilkinson’s unhealthy interest in children.”
Yesterday Neil Henderson, CEO of Safeline, a national charity that helps prevent sexual abuse and rape, said a “common sense” approach was needed when housing sexual offenders in the community.
“This was a despicable crime and it can really frighten local communities to have a serious sexual offender living among them,” he said.
“There are clearly defined processes in England and Wales, enshrined in legislation, that are meant to support the offender and manage the risks associated with individuals like this.
“But the Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), which is accountable for identifying, assessing and addressing public risk, should recognise the concerns that communities have in these situations.
“And if there are ways to manage the risk to make sure the community feels safe, they should try to do that.
“For me, managing risk would include thinking very carefully about housing this individual in a location surrounded by so many nurseries and schools.
“A common sense approach is needed, and MAPPA must consider not only the individual’s needs, but the needs of the wider community.”
A council spokesperson said: “We take this matter extremely seriously. The safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in our city is our number one priority.
“In this case, police carried out assessments and removed this individual from the sex offenders register.
“This was prior to his move into his current accommodation over four-and-a-half years ago. The individual had been living within the community for a considerable time before then – all of which had been under a risk-managed approach, with consideration to the wider community, as well as his health care needs.
“We take extremely seriously the safety of our communities, and it is important to note, and to give the reassurance, that we and the police have not been made aware of any safeguarding concerns with regards to this individual.”
4