THE number of sex offenders whose whereabouts are unknown to police has been revealed by a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

As of February 17, ten registered sex offenders in the Devon and Cornwall Police force area are classified as missing or wanted for arrest, the FOI request shows.

Of the ten, one is deemed to be high risk, four as medium, three as low and the remaining two were not assessed, the FOI also shows.

In 2023, the BBC reported that hundreds of sex offenders across the UK slipped off the radar of police in a three-year period.

FOI requests by BBC News to 45 police forces revealed 729 sex offenders had gone missing or were wanted for arrest from 2019 to 2021.