A relative of paedophile John Malcolm “Chalkie” White, who just yesterday learnt from this newspaper of his release from prison, has spoken of her shock at not being informed.

Sandra, who asked to go by her first name alone, is a family member through the marriage of her mother to White’s father.

“One of the reasons I am doing this is that I’m scared for other children,” she said, revealing that the former police officer’s father, Malcolm White, also a former officer, had been dismissed from the force in Bermuda after “interfering with” a teenage girl, and ultimately returned to Britain. The junior White, who served 12 years in jail out of his 25-year sentence for sex crimes against young boys, was released from prison on October 31. Sandra said she only found out through news reports.

“I was shocked,” she said. “It’s not been that long. They never told us he was coming out.”

White came to the island from the UK as a youngster with his parents, and Sandra recalls living on Mount Hill, Pembroke next door to him, before he ultimately became a family member through his father. She told The Royal Gazette: “You could say he was different. I never suspected what he was involved in, although I made sure my children knew about his father.

“I knew there was something wrong with him. He was a nervous person. I didn’t know what it was from, but his hands shook.

“The last time I spoke to him was before he was locked up. He denied doing it when he went to court and never had treatment while he was in jail because he said he hadn’t done it.”

Paedophilia is classed as a psychiatric disorder, and Sandra said she had often wondered if White himself had been abused. After a trial, which she could not bring herself to attend, White was imprisoned in 2004

“I don’t have any pictures of him left,” she added. “I ripped them all up a long time ago. I just wanted to forget it all. I don’t even know where he is.”

Asked if she believed that White would leave the island, she replied: “I am hoping that he will.”