Exposed: Murderers rapists and sex-groomers wrongly given laptops, phones and employment opportunities warns whistleblower

In one shocking example, a child sex offender who groomed his victims online was given a smartphone by the job centre without any restrictions.

Elsewhere, a notorious abuser from the town’s grooming gangs scandal was allegedly given a laptop and referred to an employment opportunity without their restrictions being observed.

When a dangerous prisoner returns to society, their restrictions should be sent to everyone responsible for managing them, including job centres.

The restrictions are called Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements, or MAPPA for short.

These restrictions are collected by the probation, police and prison services in a document called a MAPPA-J.

This form contains all of the restrictions related to the ex-prisoner, such as where they can work, who they can work with, and what devices they can use.

But a former DWP civil servant who was the work coach for MAPPA claimants at the Oxford Job Centre said that these restrictions were not collected, incorrectly stored and processed, and often being ignored.

Soon after starting work at the job centre in April 2021, Mark, not his real name, told us about the moment he realised that restrictions for ex-prisoners were not being observed.

“I learned of a universal credit claimant I was interviewing, he had MAPPA conditions, due to the fact he was a sexual offender, but there was no MAPPA intelligence or safeguarding measures pinned to his digital account.

“I contacted the MAPPA lead for the office, and the response I got back was ‘if we don’t have MAPPA intelligence from the National Probation Service, we do not chase it, that is not our job.’

“I realised we have a huge problem.”

Mark also alleged that the job centre failed to correctly store and review vital intelligence about ex-prisoners and their restrictions.

“The documentation is stored under lock and key in a cabinet. When I first accessed that folder, I was absolutely appalled. It clearly hadn’t been reviewed for over 10 years,” he said.

Mark added that there were over 20 documents in where restrictions had expired but the ex-prisoner was still being managed by the job centre.

He said: “Did we have sex offenders applying for work that still had restrictions in place? We just didn’t know. It was impossible to ascertain.”

After an incident where a convicted pedophile was allegedly given a smartphone against his restrictions, Mark notified the office that they had a problem.

A senior manager wrote back to say, “you have identified a massive risk for both this case and wider,” but Mark alleged that nothing was done.

Marks said that no safeguarding measures were put in place and more incidents occurred.

GB News has heard compelling testimony about other incidents where the DWP allegedly failed to observe restrictions applied to ex-prisoners.

In one case, it is claimed that the Oxford Job Centre offered work to a notorious pedophile. He had already been given a laptop with internet access.

The convicted abuser was only picked up by chance when a job centre worker said he recognised him from Oxford’s Muslim community and asked Mark to run a check on his restrictions.

This man, who we cannot name for legal reasons, preyed on vulnerable young girls in one of Britain’s worst grooming gang scandals.

Mark alleged that there were no restrictions pinned to his account, but after he asked the National Probation Service to check, they returned with a significant list of limits.

“He was managed as general population despite having some of the most significant restrictions I have ever seen. These restrictions were ‘cannot work with children’, ‘cannot have unsupervised access to children’, internet usage limits, digital device limits.

“They were very, very significant.”

After the abuser’s past was exposed and Mark informed him of his restrictions, he said he never saw him again at the job centre.

The whistleblower, who no longer works at the job centre, told this broadcaster that the failures to process ex-prisoners are ongoing in Oxford.

GB News has also spoken to another civil servant at a different job centre within the Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire DWP region who alleged that the same failures are occurring at their workplace.

This broadcaster has also heard compelling testimony from another whistleblower that ex-prisoners in the same region — including paedophiles and violent offenders — have been referred to training programs without their MAPPA restrictions being registered.

A DWP spokesperson said: “We take all staff concerns very seriously and are committed to investigating any issues that are raised.

“Documents held by Oxford Jobcentre on customers with restrictions are up-to-date and regularly reviewed. Training is provided for Jobcentre staff nationwide, and we continue to work closely with Thames Valley Probation Service and others so we have the necessary detail on applicants’ personal circumstances.”