Website names on the run sex offender as most wanted

2:00pm Wednesday 27th August 2008

A FRESH appeal has been made for information on a most-wanted paedophile still on the run a year-and-a-half after his disappearance.

Fifty-four-year-old Stephen John Burnell is wanted by North Yorkshire Police for failure to comply with his notification requirements on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

Burnell was found guilty at the beginning of March last year of sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl, and sentenced to six years in prison.

But he had gone on the run before being convicted, and was sentenced in his absence.

Some of his offences against the girl were committed in York, others in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.

Before going on the run, he was last believed to be living in North West Wales.

Burnell, previously of a South Bank address and another York address, was placed on the Sex Offenders’ register for life and banned from working with children.

He will begin the sentence after he is caught. At the trial, Judge Stephen Ashurst also made a sex offence prevention order restricting Burnell’s behaviour after he finishes his sentence.

Burnell is the thirteenth offender to be posted on the website Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP), which has launched the fresh appeal.

He is described as 5ft 9ins tall, of medium build, with blue eyes and has a ruddy complexion with cropped receding ginger hair with a full ginger beard and moustache.

Burnell has a number of distinctive tattoos, including a black panther on his left arm; a skull with a dagger behind; and the words Do Or Die printed over the top of his right arm. He is described as having a nomadic lifestyle.

Jim Gamble, CEOP’s chief executive, said: “The Most Wanted website has proved to be successful in locating eleven offenders to date who had gone missing from the authorities.

“We are urging the public to get involved once again to find this individual. By working together, we can continue to track those offenders who try to avoid being managed by the authorities and protect our communities from harm.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said that investigations were still on-going and anyone with any information should phone 0845 6060247.

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