Son of fled sex offender speaks of his outrage

EXCLUSIVE by Frances Leate

THE son of a convicted paedophile who is being sought by police in connection with an attempted abduction has spoken exclusively to the Olive Press.

Stephen Bill, 26, from Preston, has told of his outrage that his father, Robert Edward Bill, was allowed to make a new life in Spain just two year’s after being imprisoned for trying to abduct a five-year-old girl in Holywell near his hometown in North Wales.

He said: “I think it is ridiculous that European law allows him the right to build a new life inSpainaround people who know nothing about him or his past.

“He is a dangerous man and inNorth Waleseverybody knows about his conviction but those expats had no idea and that just shouldn’t have happened.”

Bill, who is believed to have recently obtained a €21,000 advance of his inheritance, fled from his home in Competa, near to where he was working inTorroxPark, on theCosta del Sol, a few weeks ago.

He is now being sought by Spanish National Police who is keen to speak with him regarding the attempted abduction of a 12-year-old girl outside the court building in Velez-Malaga on November 19.

Stephen says the family has no idea about his whereabouts.

He said: “He was sending messages every now and then to myself and others in the family but I haven’t spoken to him since myNan’s funeral in December 2011, and even then it was only one word answers to his questions.

“As you can imagine, it has been very hard for the family and even when he was in prison we still believed him to be innocent.

“To anyone who knew him, when he was first arrested in 2008, the accusations that he had tried to abduct a child just seemed so totally ridiculous

“He had a reputation for being a very genuine and generous person.

“But the truth is he was just a very convincing liar, he had a plausible excuse and explanation for everything.

“He portrayed himself as a normal person.”

Mr Bill, who has an eight month old daughter, spent several years working with his dad building children’s playgrounds.

He said he would occasional notice his dad looking at women on the street when he was driving along but thought nothing of it.

It wasn’t until his dad returned home from prison in August 2010 that the family finally found evidence they couldn’t ignore.

A family member checked his web history to find a string of pornographic websites.

Stephen’s mum divorced Bill and he was thrown out of the family home to spend months at a time travelling from one place to the next.

Stephen said: “He finally admitted to us that he “had problems”, he was thrown out and pretty much disowned by the family.

“We knew he was inSpainbut I just thought he was on holiday and I believe he was staying in touch with the police as part of his probation inMalaga.”

Stephen, who is a Jehovah Witness, said his dad was an embarrassment to the religious group and his family, who he says want nothing to do with him.

He said: “My father was removed as one of Jehovah Witnesses several years ago and he has nothing to do with them now.

“He never held any position of responsibility.”

He added: “I just hope they catch him before something else happens. I’d rather he wasn’t shot; I just want him to go back to jail and stay there.

“That’s not an easy thing to say about your own father but the entire family totally condemns his actions.”