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B.C. sex offender Randall Hopley stays in custody after skipping court date

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 24 Nov, 2023 01:34 PM

A high-risk sex offender arrested by Vancouver police after a 10-day manhunt earlier this month remains in custody awaiting his next court date.

Randall Hopley was to appear in court on Friday, but his case was put off until Dec. 8 in British Columbia provincial court.

Police say Hopley cut off his electronic monitoring device after he walked away from a halfway house in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside on Nov. 4.

Hopley had been on a 10-year supervision order after serving a six-year prison term for abducting a three-year-old boy in southeastern B.C., but he was charged last January for allegedly violating those conditions and was to appear in court Nov. 6.

Police say they arrested the 58-year-old man the following week when he showed up outside a police station to turn himself in because he was feeling cold.

Vancouver Sgt. Steve Addison told media after his arrest that police would recommend to Crown counsel that he be denied bail and remain in custody.

Police don't have anything to suggest Hopley committed more offences while at large this month, Addison said.

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