Roger Gleaves 90

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A paedophile once dubbed the most evil man in Britain after raping two 14-year-old boys has reportedly been housed next to a primary school.

Roger Gleaves, who was jailed for life in 1998, now lives in the council block of flats that looks on to a nursery and an adventure playground in Tottenham, north London.

The paedophile, who posed as a social worker and a vicar, calling himself the Bishop of Medway, was reportedly caught 'leering' at children outside Brook House Primary.

When The Sun approached Gleaves, now 84 and with a huge grey beard, he reportedly told Stephen Moyes: 'Mind your own f****** business. If I was going to do anything it would have happened by now.'

The block he lives in is full of families and a resident slammed Haringey council for housing him there, dubbing the decision 'disgusting and sick'.

Campaigner Chris Wittwer, who tracks paedophiles who have been freed, told MailOnline: 'We hear it all the time, offenders released to live near primary schools, play parks, estates full of children.

'The authorities are meant to rehouse these type of offenders sensitively but that does not happen in most cases.

'Most are moved back to the area that they offend in, meaning they reside in close proximity to the victims.

'Schools are not alerted when an offender moves close to a school either, leaving the most vulnerable in society at risk.

'It's something the government agencies have been doing for a very long time, without anyone to answer to.'

Gleaves was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1998 after he was convicted of raping the two 14-year-old boys, attempted rape, incitement of one boy to rape another, and three counts of indecent assault

He was housed in Albany prison on the Isle of Wight towards the end of his sentence, which locals dubbed 'Paedophile Island' because its three jails held so many sex offenders.

Gleaves was involved in a high profile court case in 2011 after claiming that the prison process of 'slopping out' was humiliating, degrading, and violated his human rights.

But the judge dismissed the case and concluded Gleaves was not actually unhappy with prison conditions but was bored and had brought the case 'for entertainment' and to make 'a bit of cash'.

If Gleaves, 77 at the time, had won the case would have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds as 10 prisons would have had to be renovated at vast cost.

Ministers would also have had to pay out compensation to around 360 inmates who joined the legal action.

Many of those involved in the case were given legal aid and the bill to taxpayers is expected to run to tens of thousands of pounds.

Gleaves took the legal action as a 'litigant in person' and did not receive public funding.

In his ruling Mr Justice Hickinbottom said the prisoners were not suffering 'inhuman and degrading treatment' and forcing them to go to the toilet in a bucket did not amount to a breach of their right to a private life.

'Mr Gleaves accepted in his evidence that he had conducted litigation for "entertainment",' the judge said in his ruling.

'Further, he said that he considered he had a role in organising prisoners' claims and that he had set up a business with a view to assisting prisoners in suing the prison service."

He added: 'In my view, Mr Gleaves has pursued this claim for motivations other than genuine distress suffered as a result of the sanitation arrangements in HMP Albany.'

'I have no hesitation in saying that they have utterly failed to convince me that either has suffered any distress, anxiety, feelings of humiliation or other harm as a result of the sanitation regime at HMP Albany.'

The judge said prisoners rarely had to resort to the use of the bucket as they were allowed out of their cells to use communal toilets.