Stronger oversight for newly released sex offenders has been demanded after a serial molester admitted attacking a woman less than a week after his release from prison.

Debi Ray-Rivers, who heads Saving Children and Revealing Secrets, said that Devaun Cox’s guilty plea was only more proof that “dangerous sex offenders should never be released without proper oversight and strict management”.

She added: “If we do not provide strict management and oversight to dangerous released sex offenders, then we need to consider incarcerating them for life.

“I know that this will not sit well with those who think dangerous sex offenders deserve a second chance, but let us not ever forget that the pain inflicted on a survivor of sexual assault could last a lifetime.”

Cox, 38, admitted last Thursday in Magistrates’ Court to a sex assault against a woman on May 3 — six days after he was released from prison for a similar offence.

Ms Ray-Rivers criticised his initial release after it was revealed that Cox did not have a fixed abode, which she said posed a risk to himself and the community.

She said that the attack was “not at all surprising” — but did bring her “immense sadness" for the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Ms Ray-Rivers said: “How many more scarred victims is it going to take for us to realise that dangerous sex offenders cannot be trusted?

“He was, and is, a danger to society and to himself.”

The charity’s executive director acknowledged that the public had to be warned by law about the release of a sex offender before their re-entry into the community.

However, she added that “not everyone reads the paper and walks around with pictures of released dangerous sex offenders in their pockets”.

Ms Ray-Rivers previously advocated for the implementation of a “probation hostel” for sex offenders returning to public life without a place to stay.

She explained the practice, which is followed in Britain, would protect both the offender and the wider community from harm.

But Ms Ray-Rivers recently said: “Child sex offenders who are deemed dangerous and continue to assault after being released from Westgate should go directly back to prison without a hearing, and for a very long time, because right now that is the only place that will protect our citizens.”

Cox’s previous convictions date back to 2012 when he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for intruding on the privacy of a young girl.

He was convicted again in 2013 for intruding on a young girl’s privacy and was jailed for three years.

In 2017 Cox was convicted for intruding on the privacy of a young girl and jailed for three years. He appealed the conviction but it was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2018.

In December 2022, Cox was jailed for six months for a sexual assault on a woman patient at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute in January 2021.

He also has two previous convictions for prowling.

Cox has been remanded in custody and will return to Magistrates’ Court on November 16 for sentencing.

The Ministry of National Security did not respond for a request for comment in time for publication.