Wanted Portsmouth sex offender who subjected women to "traumatic" experiences on the run from police
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A sex offender who was jailed for subjecting two women to “traumatic” experiences is on the run from police.
Zackery Stephen Bell, of Portsmouth, is wanted by Sussex Police after being released on licence. “Zackery is wanted on recall to prison for breaching the terms of his licence and has links to Brighton, Crawley and Hampshire,” the force said.
“If you see him, do not approach him, please dial 999 quoting serial 1136 of 30/07.” The 31-year-old lived in South Avenue, Hilsea, when he appeared in court charged with sex offences.
He was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on June 23, 2022, after pleading guilty to sexual offences against two women. One incident took place in Waterlooville, the other in West Sussex. Aged 28 at the time, Bell was handed a six year jail term.
The deviant attacked his first victim after at her home in Waterlooville on December 6, 2020, where he was responding to an advert on Facebook Marketplace. Once inside the address, Bell forcibly kissed the victim and groped her over her clothes before being spooked and running away.
Court heard he subsequently sent the victim a Facebook message asking her to meet up. The incident was reported the next day, with Bell later being arrested and charged for sexual assault.
While on bail, he was staying with a female he knew in Chichester and was supposed to be sleeping on the sofa. In the early hours of Boxing Day morning in 2020, he went into her bedroom and sexually assaulted her while she was asleep.
Bell was handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years alongside his prison sentence, and a lifetime restraining order from both victims. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life. Detective Constable Jason Berney, of the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit, previously said that Bell went on the run following the sexual offences, and had to be tracked down.
Detective Constable Keeka Crewe-Way, of Hampshire Constabulary’s Eastern Criminal Investigation Department, added at the time: ‘These were understandably extremely traumatic ordeals for the women involved and I cannot commend them enough for their courage and bravery in coming forward and telling us what happened, and for their strength throughout the criminal justice process.”
Anyone with information about Bell, or who sees him, is urged to call 999 quoting 1136 of 30/07. Reports can be submitted online via the police website.