00:00But I'm here because this case is yet another example of victims being let down by a justice system that
00:07often fails to put their safety first.
00:10And in this case, those victims are children.
00:13Ever-increasing volumes of cases are raised with me by angry and sometimes upset officers who are doing all they
00:19can to protect victims and communities
00:21that feel hamstrung by a justice system that seemingly under pressure makes unfathomable decisions.
00:28Zaffer Dogen, who admitted his guilt for these offences today, was surprisingly allowed to return to the very address from
00:36which he targeted his victims who lived close by.
00:40Prosecutors rightly opposed bail on multiple occasions, building on officers clear assessments of the great risk he posed.
00:47And yet bail decisions were ultimately made that prioritised the offenders' interests over the safety and the peace of mind
00:55of the victims.
00:55The result was that a victim and their family found themselves living in close proximity to a man who had
01:03admitted targeting them.
01:05They were so fearful, ultimately felt forced to move to a distant temporary accommodation, disrupting their lives and disrupting the
01:13children's lives,
01:14simply to escape being in the neighbourhood of the offender.
01:18That is simply not acceptable.
01:21The children should be put first, not the paedophile.
01:26The pressure to reduce the remanded population has contributed to more dangerous and prolific offenders being granted bail routinely,
01:33despite strong submissions from the police and CPS.
01:38It is understood there is great frustration among officers at the release on bail of Zaffer Dogen,
01:45a 32-year-old whose flat overlooked a children's playground and who used computer software to make obscene images
01:53from photographs that he had secretly taken of women and children,
01:58some of whom were in said playground opposite his bedroom.
02:03The case follows repeated criticism of the courts by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley,
02:11most pointedly in the case of Simon Levy, which saw catastrophic police and court failures
02:17leave the registered sex offender free to kill twice and commit a series of sex attacks.
02:23The Met chief has already warned that far fewer knife crime suspects are being remanded in custody,
02:30with serial offenders, including one who tried to smuggle a small sword into Notting Hill Carnival,
02:37bailed multiple times and cited another case which saw a sex offender who should have been remanded in custody,
02:46bailed to an address two doors down from his victim.
02:49The government has said courts should only bail offenders where necessary and proportionate.
