Police hunt for sex offender

Walmsley may have befriended people using an assumed name

A "dangerous" sex offender jailed for attacks on women and children has been missing for three months and is on the run, police have said.

All efforts to trace Peter Walmsley, 39, have failed since he disappeared in August, when he failed to register where he was living in Nottingham.

Officers have warned the public he is extremely dangerous and not to approach or confront him.

Since his release from Elmley Prison in Kent in October last year, Walmsley has lived in Slough, Berkshire, a hostel in Strood, Kent, and then at an address in Nottingham.

Because of his pattern of offending, we consider Walmsley to be an extremely dangerous individual Andy Bailey Nottinghamshire police

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said Walmsley had committed sexual assaults against both women and children, including the attempted rape of a nine-year-old girl and an attack on an elderly woman.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Bailey, head of Nottinghamshire Police Dangerous Persons Management Unit, said: "Because of his pattern of offending, we consider Walmsley to be an extremely dangerous individual.

"He has a drink problem and tends to offend when he's been drinking.

"One of our problems with Walmsley is his transient nature and the fact that he has no particular ties to any specific county.

'Anger' rapist

"He could travel anywhere, funding his lifestyle through theft, robbery, begging and deception."

Walmsley is known to have expressed a desire to settle in London or Slough.

Originally from Cambridge, he was jailed in 1998 for 54 months after being convicted of indecently assaulting a 69-year-old woman in a market.

He admitted a further 27 offences at the hearing, police said.

Walmsley's first conviction for a sex attack was in 1984 and he has since been found guilty of 15 similar crimes, many in the Preston, Lancashire area.

The police spokesman said: "He is described as having the profile of an 'anger rapist' and picks his victims at random.

"Police believe he could be using an assumed name and could be living rough, or in a hostel.

"He may have been befriended by people who are unaware of his background."