B.C.’s premier says it is “not acceptable” that a convicted child sex offender won’t have his leave privileges scrapped, despite disappearing from a Vancouver halfway house for 10 days in November.
David Eby said he plans to raise his concerns with a recent Parole Board of Canada’s decision regarding Randall Hopley with federal officials.
Hopley is best known for abducting a three-year-old boy from his southeastern B.C. home in 2011.
He completed a six-year prison term for the abduction and was released in 2018 under a 10-year long-term supervision order, and has been living at a halfway house where he has overnight leave privileges, contingent on approval from his parole supervisor.
In November, he cut off an ankle monitor days before a scheduled court appearance for breaching release conditions, prompting a 10-day manhunt.
In a parole board decision dated Feb. 2, federal officials declined to rescind Hopley’s overnight leave privileges, despite his previous breaches and the November incident where he was unlawfully at large.
“There is no information that your most recent concerning breach-related incidents were related to your authorization of overnight leave,” the decision states.
“While the board concurs with your (case management team) that your most recent behaviours are concerning when it comes to any potential leave authorization, the Board also notes the required approval from your parole supervisor prior to the granting of any leaves and therefore does not believe it necessary to remove the previous authorization.”
“Clearly there is something that is not working here. The problem is definitely Randall Hopley, but it is also a system that allows him to be continuously released in our community to put kids at risk, it’s not acceptable,” Eby said.
“I will be reaching out to federal counterparts about this so they can address this.”
The decision not to rescind Hopley’s privileges comes despite numerous disturbing patterns of behaviour noted in the parole board document.
Hopley has been diagnosed with pedophilia, borderline intellectual functioning and a personality disorder, according to the parole board.
He has had his release suspended four times since 2019 for breaching conditions or being aggressive.
One suspension came after Hopley was caught using a computer, in violation of his release conditions, at a public library in November 2022 — where he accessed a news article about a young boy and browsed underwear ads, according to the parole board decision.
“You had breached your condition not to be near children’s areas as you were located approximately three feet away from a group of children visiting the library,” it notes.
Eby said Wednesday he couldn’t fathom Hopley could potentially be released back into the community after breaching conditions to stay away from children.
“He was then released back to the community with nothing more than an ankle bracelet protecting kids from him,” he said.
“He broke that bracelet off, wandered off in the community, and terrified parents across the province that he was going to show up in the house in the middle of the night and take their kids just like he did before.”
The document also notes halfway house staff have found sex toys, adult pornography, adult male and female underwear and sim cards in Hopley’s possession.
He has been assessed as a generally high risk to re-offend sexually and a moderate risk for other types of offences, it adds, and has repeatedly shown himself to have problems with self-control, including a history of angry outbursts at staff and his parole supervisor.
Hopley is due in court on April 26 to face charges related to breaching his conditions in November.
- What we know — and don’t — in Ontario’s deadly Highway 401 police pursuit crash
- Infant, grandparents killed in Highway 401 crash after police pursuit from LCBO robbery
- Parents of slain Halifax teen grapple with grief, anger: ‘No one listened’
- London sword attack: 14-year-old killed, 4 injured by man on stabbing spree
Comments