152 sex offenders are being watched

GREATER Manchester Police and probation service are monitoring 152 sex offenders in Oldham.

Across the police force area, 1,716 registered sex offenders are being monitored, with 152 in Oldham — compared with the borough’s 158 last year and the Greater Manchester’s 1,722 total.

A breakdown of the new figures revealed there are 131 managed sex offenders in neighbouring Rochdale and a further 121 in Tameside.

Det Sgt Neil Prunnell, GMP’s strategy manager for the multi-agency protection group known as MAPPA, said: “Our twin goals are to prevent re-offending and to protect the public.

“The work carried out under MAPPA is extremely important as we know the impact these offences can have on victims and families.

“The fall is because more offenders came to the end of registration requirements.”

Police are also keeping tabs on 1,547 violent offenders and a further 48 “dangerous” offenders in the region.

Nationally, figures for all criminals being supervised rose by more than 3 per cent to 50,210.