Over 1,500 sex offenders live in the Avon and Somerset area, according to data from the Ministry of Justice.

These individuals are managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPAs) by police forces, probation services, and other government agencies, in order to monitor their activities in the community.

Of those being managed under MAPPAs in the Avon and Somerset area, 79% were convicted of sex crimes, 467 were violent offenders, and 11 were considered dangerous.

The area is bucking a national trend, as the number of sex offenders being managed under MAPPAs has increased nationally, with 66,741 sex offenders currently being monitored, up 4% from last year and 65% from ten years ago. The rate of sex offenders among the population was 126 per 100,000 at the end of March this year.

The Ministry of Justice has explained that the number of sex offenders being monitored increases each year, as many are put on the sex offenders register for life once convicted.

Last year, there was a significant rise in the number of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs) issued, which coincided with a 57% increase in the number of people convicted of sexual offences following the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions on courts.

SHPOs are applied when a court believes that a protection order is needed to protect the public from sexual harm, and can include a ban on foreign travel to protect children from sexual harm abroad. In the year to March, 5,753 SHPOs were issued nationally, up 33% from 4,325 in 2020-21, with 127 being imposed on offenders in Avon and Somerset.

Rachel Almeida, Victim Support assistant director of knowledge and insight, said the charity is "extremely worried" about an increase in sexual violence – and particularly rape – being reported to police nationally.

She said it comes in the context of "poor conviction rates and horrendous court delays".

Ms Almedia added: "It is vital that these reports are taken seriously and that the justice system has the resources to ensure that victims get the care, support and protection they need – and that justice is served."

A spokesperson for the Home Office praised the use of SHPOs to target those responsible for sexual abuse.

He said: "We have some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with sex offenders, and those that pose a risk of sexual harm, to ensure the public is protected."