It is usually an average of three years. It is only put in place for five years if there are aggravating factors. The difficulty is that the individuals we are talking about here represent a small number of the offenders who have gone through the process but they are individuals who will exploit every loophole in the legislation. They are manipulative and would not have been convicted in the first place if they were not manipulative in respect of the victim. I do not want them to be able to use some wriggle room in it where they may have an order placing them for five years, ten years or permanently on the sex offenders register but they have a minimal provision regarding the issue of harassment.

It puts it back on the victim again that once that period of time has elapsed - the three, four, five years or whatever the case may be - they need to be vigilant again. They need to collate evidence and go back to the court again. Based on previous discussion we have had on the sex offenders legislation, I believe that is a further exploitation and abuse of the victim. We need to minimise that. It should not be tolerated that there is harassment after an offender's release from prison. If an individual is forced to go before the courts to get protection and to get a specific order put in place, then it must be for the maximum period possible. There should not be wriggle room regarding that if they are exploiting an individual they have previously exploited.