25/05/2006

Sex offender surrenders to police

A sex offender, who went missing from a bail hostel in Lancashire, has given himself up to police.

William Knowles, 44, originally from Larne in County Antrim, failed to sign on at the hostel in Bury on Tuesday afternoon.

Knowles, who had been imprisoned for grooming and abusing children, gave himself up to a police officer on Portland Street in Manchester city centre yesterday.

He had been out of prison on licence and had to report to the hostel as part of his conditions.

Knowles has been convicted seven times of indecency against children, including an 18-month jail term for gross indecency against a young child in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and shortly after, returned to jail for four years after admitting to attempting to abduct a seven-year-old boy in Redditch, Worcestershire.

He was released in 2001, where he went missing from a bail hostel.

Greater Manchester Police have said that he will be sent back to jail.

(EF/SP)

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

23 June 2016
Police Officers Disciplined For Failing To Tell Doctor About Woman's Head Injuries
Two police officers have been disciplined after they failed to let their colleagues and a police doctor know that a woman had sustained a head injury, a Police Ombudsman investigation has concluded. The woman died from bleeding to the brain on 24 February 2014, the day after she suffered the injury.
13 February 2019
No Police Wrongdoing In Belfast Hostel Incident- Ombudsman
A police officer accused of assaulting a man outside a hostel in Belfast has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Police Ombudsman's office. A complaint was lodged after an incident in May last year, when two officers attended the hostel in Belfast City Centre on an unrelated matter.
12 April 2017
Man Arrested Over Murder Of George Gilmore
A 39-year-old man has been arrested by police investigating the murder of George Gilmore. Mr Gilmore, aged 44, was shot in the neck in Carrickfergus on Monday, 13 March. He died from his injuries in hospital the following day, 14 March. The suspect was detained in Co Antrim on Wednesday, 12 April, and is being questioned at Musgrave police station.
21 April 2016
Officer Disciplined For Failing To Properly Investigate Assault On Boy
A police officer has been disciplined after failing to properly investigate an allegation that a man annoyed by children playing football near his car, attacked a 12-year-old boy by kicking him on the hand.
15 May 2015
Man's Body Recovered From Bangor Marina
Police have launched an investigation after the body of a man was recovered from Bangor Marina on Wednesday, 13 May. Police received a report that a man had entered the water shortly after 10.15am. Emergency services and police attended the scene and the body was recovered from the water. Police are not treating the death as suspicious.