The prime minister has said that the decision to bail a sex offender and repeatedly allow him to return to his home overlooking the playground he targeted must be reviewed.
Zafer Dogan, 32, of Enfield, north London, was jailed on Thursday for two years and four months for taking thousands of pictures of children and using AI software to “nudify” them.
Andy Burnham called the case “disturbing”, adding: “I would ask those working across the criminal justice system to look at it and to make any necessary changes as a result.”
The Ministry of Justice said while the Crown Prosecution Service had the right to challenge them, final bail decisions were “made by the independent judiciary”.
The ministry added: “The protection of victims, witnesses, and the public must always be considered when deciding whether or not an offender should be released on bail.”
London’s victims’ commissioner Andrea Simon said victims and their families had been “grossly failed” by the court system that granted Dogan bail.
She said the case showed “the justice system did not centre victims” and called for a multi-agency review.
Speaking outside the court where Dogan was jailed, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley criticised the “unfathomable decisions” of the justice system.
Burnham told BBC London’s political editor Karl Mercer that Sir Mark “certainly has a point and it needs to be heard”.
“It’s a matter for the courts when these decisions are made,” the prime minister said. “They need to hear the voice of the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
“This case is disturbing and I would ask those working across the criminal justice system to look at it and make any necessary changes as a result.”
Burnham also told BBC London the plan to release some offenders before the end of their custodial sentences, to free up space in prisons, was “not an ideal situation”.
“The failure to build prison spaces over a number of years has led to this unacceptable situation,” he said.
Dogan had pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child, which included 900 category C images, 294 category B images and 653 category A images, which are the most serious.
He also admitted possessing extreme pornography, possessing a prohibited image of a child, creating purported intimate images of an adult, obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty and a further two counts of making indecent photographs of a child.
According to the police, he had taken more than 5,000 pictures, many from his bedroom window.
Despite protests from the police and prosecutors, he had previously been bailed back to his flat, forcing one family who had fallen victim to his crimes to move into temporary accommodation.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today, Simon said: “I think victims and their families were grossly failed by the decision to allow this paedophile to return to an address where he was overlooking a playground near to his victims.
“The case [shows that] the justice system just does not centre victims. To know that the police and prosecutors opposed bail multiple times, but nevertheless, he was returned to the community, is an indication that the capacity pressures on prisons are not being balanced with the impacts that that’s having on victims’ lives.
“We seem to be lurching from one crisis to another, and victim safety and their rights seem to be put to one side, as the justice system struggles.”
