A report by parliamentarians on how to protect children from sex predators will recommend creating a central “hub” for all the agencies dealing with complaints of abuse.

And, while it will stop short of recommending a complete public sex offenders’ register, it will propose a co-ordinated system to ensure the community is made aware when dangerous convicts are released from prison.

It will recommend that sex offenders in the following categories are placed on a publicly-available list:

• Those with a previous conviction for a sexual offence, who are subsequently convicted of a second offence;

• Those under supervision orders under section 329F of the Criminal Code;

• Those convicted of sexual offences in a public position of trust; and

• Those convicted of sexual offences in relation to the transmission of a sexual disease, such as Aids or HIV.

The report will be released early in 2017, according to Mark Pettingill, the chairman of the joint select committee which was tasked with examining existing legislation regarding sex offenders in November 2014.

He told The Royal Gazette it would be timely in light of Bermuda coach Andrew Bascome’s revelation this week that he was molested as a child.

“Andrew Bascome is the hero,” said the government backbencher and former Attorney-General. “I sent him a text saying ‘you are my hero’ and I meant it. Somebody of that significance in the community speaking out gives courage to others to come forward.”

Mr Pettingill said his bipartisan six-person committee had gathered and reviewed a “mountain of information” from overseas on how best to tackle child sex abuse and was particularly impressed with an approach from Iceland known as “Barnahus” or “Children’s House”.

According to a report by the Children’s Commissioner in the United Kingdom, the approach introduced in Iceland in 1998 has led a trebling of the number of perpetrators charged there, a doubling of the number of convictions and better therapeutic outcomes for children and their families.

It has centralised multiple agencies who were handling cases of suspected sexual abuse, meaning child victims no longer have to give multiple interviews to each agency, leading to better evidence, and there is improved information-sharing and co-ordination.

Mr Pettingill said the report would point out that Bermuda already had some legislation in place which could be used to better manage sex offenders, such as section 329H of the Criminal Code, which allows for public notification.

That provision of the law was not used when paedophile and former policeman John “Chalkie” White left prison after serving 12 years of an 18-year sentence in October, prompting criticism from Mr Pettingill and others.

He said: “It could have been used promptly and effectively but what we didn’t have was a ‘hub’ between organisations to ensure the left-hand knows what the right-hand is doing. We need a hub where we put everything under one roof, under one unit. It’s that type of co-ordinated effort that makes a difference.”

Another provision in the law allows child victims to give evidence by video link but Mr Pettingill said it was not being used by the courts.

He said the committee began its work by exploring the issue of a public sex offenders’ register but it soon became clear it needed to widen its scope and consider how else children could be safeguarded.

“We see [that] as a bigger, more important issue,” said Mr Pettingill, adding that the report would cover effective prevention measures, management of offenders and support and counselling of victims. It will recommend some changes to the law, as well as proposing changes in the way we think as a society.

“People have to get that where we think our children are the safest is statistically where they are the least safe,” he said.

“They get abused at school, in social clubs, in churches, at home. Until we start to wrap our heads around that, we won’t deal with this. John ‘Chalkie’ White is a perfect example of that. He was all the things you trust and he preyed on young black males with single mothers who needed help, who needed guidance, who needed father figures in their lives.

“That’s where these types of monsters go. The access is in the places where the children are and where they are left. The cover becomes a trusted cloak for the sociopathic paedophile.”

The committee will suggest anyone working or volunteering in schools, churches or clubs be rigorously screened. Mr Pettingill said: “People who are legitimate are going to understand that.”

It will propose using child psychologists to obtain evidence from children and for those professionals to be able to give evidence on whether they consider abuse to have taken place.

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