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Offender Databases John Ferguson

John Ferguson

Alias

Robert James Ferguson (often confused with another innocent person of same name)
John Henshaw (original name, changed to John Ferguson by deed poll)

Offences

Grooming of two intellectually challenged 15 year old Christchurch boys in early 2008
Six previous convictions for indecent assault on a boy aged 12 to 16, and indecent assault on a boy aged over 16 in 1991 and 1992, and in 1974 he was convicted for indecent exposure.

Victims

.

Offender Affiliations

.

Gang affiliations

none known

Age

Born 1949

Current Location

Under "extended supervision" in Christchurch

Parole/Release Dates

Sentenced to 26 months in October 2008
Released December 2010 under a 10 year supervision order

Background
Christchurch Court News stories here and here
Sentencing detailed here
He had already done the Kia Marama programme and STOP programme for sex offenders. They didn't work

Christchurch Press story 22nd October 2008
A former bus driver sentenced yesterday to 26 months in prison for sexually grooming two 15-year-old boys he met on the buses passed a compulsory police check despite a string of sexual offence convictions.

Robert James Ferguson, 59, groomed the two boys when he was a driver for Red Bus in Christchurch between March 2006 and July 2007. He has six convictions for indecent exposure and convictions for indecent assaults on boys in 1991 and 1992. Red Bus chief executive Paul McNoe said he was unaware of the previous convictions. Ferguson passed a criminal record check conducted by police before any passenger licence was granted, he said. McNoe said he was surprised Ferguson passed the police check when he had previous convictions.

"I am surprised he just got checked and was permitted to go back into serving the public. Someone in that background is not someone we would prefer, but it is not something we would be aware of," he said. "He went through the check and was found to be OK according to the police at that time ... We rely on the police to do their work and rely on their system to advise us `yes' or `no'."

Red Bus was told by police in July last year when the new charges were made against Ferguson, meaning his passenger licence would be rescinded. His employment was immediately terminated. A police national headquarters spokesman said Ferguson passed the criminal record check, known as a fit and proper person check, because his previous convictions were more than a decade old. The Land Transport Act specifies a passenger licence can be granted if the offence is more than 10 years old.

Ferguson was convicted last month in the Christchurch District Court for the sexual grooming charges, but was acquitted of charges of sexual violation and indecent assault. The sentencing yesterday was the first for sexual grooming without a more serious sexual offence conviction. Judge Jane Farish said the sexual grooming was a serious offence, reported Christchurch Court News. "This was a serious breach of trust. You were a bus driver and the boys should have been safe in your care," she said.

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Corrections and Additional Information
We endeavour to make this database as accurate as possible, but we are at the mercy of whatever information we can find in various online and offline archives. We rely on the public - that is, people like you - to fill in the gaps that we cannot. If you wish to submit additional information or a correction to this file CLICK HERE . Privacy: Trust policy is that all sources are treated as strictly confidential unless we are explicitly told otherwise. If you wish to see a file removed from this database certain conditions must be met by the offender set out HERE Note that this does NOT apply for those that are the primary offender in a murder, rape, or any sexual offending involving minors. We do not enter into correspondence regarding the guilt/innocence of offenders. Such correspondence is not responded to, especially if the offender concerned has a number of prior convictions

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