A FAMILY have questioned why a registered sex offender was allowed to live in sheltered housing with other vulnerable adults, after he abused their elderly mother.

David Harrod admitted one count of sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder impeding choice, after climbing into bed with a fellow resident at an Aster Group-owned sheltered housing complex in Wiltshire in April.

Harrod, 72, a fellow resident at the complex, turned off the bedroom alarm system and was carrying out a sex act on his victim when her daughter walked in on him.

After he pleaded guilty when he appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Monday, the family now want an investigation into why Harrod was placed in assisted living accommodation.

The son of the victim, who lives in Marlborough, said: “We feel incredibly let down and we are pretty appalled with the way Aster has dealt with this.

“It is worrying how people like him were able to live among vulnerable women living on their own.

“Some are in wheelchairs, some can’t leave their rooms on their own, so they are totally vulnerable.

“The staff had no idea. They should have been told because they are the people who were working face to face with him every day.

“There’s been a lot of heartache for us as a family as we have no idea if this had been going on for months.”

The victim’s daughter had spent the day with her mother, then left the home, but returned as she had forgotten to put the ironing board away. She discovered Harrod in her mother’s bed and he was arrested by police.

Harrod, formerly of The Croft, Urchfont, was put on the sex offenders’ register last year after admitting to groping a girl of 12 in 2015.

He was given a 15-month jail term suspended for 18 months with 20 days of rehabilitation, told to register as a sex offender for 10 years and had his liberty restricted by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

A spokesman from Aster Group said: “Keeping our customers safe is our priority.

“We work with our partners to ensure we provide our customers with a home that best meets their needs.

“We are appalled by the actions of Mr Harrod and we will look closely at the way we allocate housing to understand if there is a way we can do things differently so that the risk of incidents like these are minimised.

"We are unable to disclose personal information about individual tenancy agreements.”

Harrod has been on remand since his arrest in April. On Monday he was further remanded in custody until he is sentenced on November 9.