Burnham backs police chief in 'nudify' paedophile bail row
Andy Burnham said Sir Mark Rowley's criticism of the courts' decision to bail convicted offender Zafer Dogan to a flat overlooking a playground 'needs to be heard'.
London’s police chief “needs to be heard”, Andy Burnham has said, after Sir Mark Rowley criticised a court decision to let a convicted paedophile stay in his flat overlooking a children’s playground.
Zafer Dogan, 32, was jailed on Thursday at Wood Green Crown Court for two years and four months after being convicted of taking thousands of pictures of women and girls and using AI technology to turn them into nude images for his own sexual gratification.
Before he was sentenced, Dogan was bailed back to his flat in Enfield, north London, forcing one family who had fallen victim to his crimes to move into temporary accommodation.
The Prime Minister told BBC London’s Karl Mercer on Friday that “this particular case is disturbing”, adding: “I would ask those working across the criminal justice system to look at it and to make any necessary changes as a result.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley had taken the unusual step of publicly criticising the justice system, telling reporters “the children should be put first, not the paedophile”.
He said the victim’s family “ultimately felt forced to move to a distant temporary accommodation, disrupting their lives and disrupting their children’s lives, simply to escape being in the neighbourhood of the offender”, adding: “That is simply not acceptable.”
Asked what he made of Sir Mark’s statement, Mr Burnham replied: “He certainly has a point and it needs to be heard.”
Sources
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