Fugitive child sex monster is back

2 January 1999
Mirror

A dangerous British paedophile is back on the prowl in Ireland looking for victims. Convicted child abuser Raymond Hewlett, from Scotland, was believed to have left the country, but now he's returned. The 53-year-old pervert has already been jailed for raping a 12-year-old girl and is suspected of murdering another 11-year-old in Britain. He is on a paedophile register in the UK, but can move freely around Ireland in his evil quest to find more victims for his sexual depravity.

Already Gardai have tracked him across nine counties in the past four months where he has tried to lure innocent children into his car. The elusive criminal has managed to evade the authorities even though his picture has been circulated to every Garda division in the country. Detectives hunting Hewlett believed he may have actually left the country after his activities were widely publicised early last month.

But the Irish Mirror has learned that he re-surfaced in Co Donegal over the Christmas period. He picked up a dole cheque in a social welfare office close to one his former haunts, a hippy commune not far from Letterkenny. Now Gardai already suspect him of an attempted child abduction in the area just two weeks ago.

Police confirmed last night that they were aware Hewlett had picked up his social welfare. "We have been alerted to this but we are not in a position to say anymore at the moment," said a senior Donegal Garda. "He may no longer be in the area and could have just used his local knowledge of this area for convenience."

Detectives have branded him as "highly dangerous" and have warned officers to be on the look out. And they said the rapist has left a trail of attempted child abductions in Ireland. Since October, Hewlett has been reported to have been scouring for victims in Dublin, Kildare, Louth, Laois and Westmeath.

His reputation is one of a vicious child abuser of appalling depravity. In 1972, the pervert served 12 months in a British jail for the rape of a 12-year-old girl. In 1988, he was jailed for six years after he kidnapped a 14-year-old girl and indecently assaulting her.

Since 1991 police have continued to question him about the murder of 11-year-old Leslie Molseed.