Police bid for sexual offences order fails (From The Northern Echo)

Police bid for sexual offences order fails

12:02pm Saturday 21st November 2009

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A POLICE force’s last-ditch bid for a court order barring a convicted North-East paedophile from having any contact with children has failed in London’s High Court.

Gary Haggas, who is in his 70s and from Thornaby, near Stockton, was made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order by Teesside magistrates in November last year after an application by Cleveland Police.

Police argued that the order was necessary in light of Haggas’ conviction in 1996 for gross indecency with a boy.

That stemmed from an incident in which he offered a Darlington boy £5 in return for sexual favours.

The force also argued that his alleged conduct since that conviction “caused the police to believe that is necessary to make such an order to protect the public from serious sexual harm”.

The order barred Haggas from contact with “any child or young person under the age of 18 years”.

He challenged it at Teesside Crown Court and, in March, a judge and two magistrates quashed the order on the basis there was insufficient evidence to justify it.

Lawyers for Cleveland Police appealed that decision at the High Court yesterday, but judge Mr Justice Collins again ruled against the force.

He said the crown court panel was right to say that no reliance could be placed on recent allegations against Haggas.

Haggas’ alleged sexual misconduct since his 1996 conviction focused on two supposed incidents – the first in 2001 and the second in 2007, the court heard.

In relation to the alleged 2001 episode, no charges were ever brought, nor was he prosecuted “in any way”.

The alleged 2007 incident resulted in a criminal trial over a schoolgirl’s accusations that he had exposed himself, but the trial judge dismissed the case against Haggas after commenting on the “poor quality and conflicting nature of the evidence”.

Mr Justice Collins – dismissing Cleveland Police’s appeal – said the crown court panel was right to say that the evidence supporting the application for an order did not meet the required “standard of proof”.

*We would like to make clear that this is not Gary Haggas, 45, formerly of Thornaby and now of Offerton Drive, Hemlington.

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