Sex Offender Designated Dangerous, Remains in Custody
John Ambrose Seward, convicted of assault while under supervision, has been declared a dangerous offender by provincial court.
A convicted sex offender who was on track to be released into the community will remain jailed indefinitely after being designated a dangerous offender by B.C. provincial court. The decision, handed down April 30, marks the culmination of an 18-month push by Crown counsel to lock away 33-year-old John Ambrose Seward, whose history of violent sexual assault and repeated breaches of release conditions made him too high a risk for community management.
Seward's pattern of offending and rule-breaking stretches back to 2009, when he committed a series of violent sexual assaults in Port Alberni. After serving his time, he was released in 2015 to supported housing in Nanaimo — and arrested within hours for violating his conditions by being in a public park where he wasn't allowed. A week later, he was released again, only to be arrested that July after attacking a Nanaimo woman from behind and attempting to strangle her into sexual assault. She escaped but required hospitalization.
In 2010, Busch was convicted on three counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault with a weapon following violent attacks on women he had stalked — including choking a sex worker after dragging her into an alleyway, forcing another woman to perform a sexual act at knifepoint, and stabbing an 18-year-old woman. In October 2022, while already serving a 10-year long-term supervision order, he assaulted a woman in east Vancouver and was convicted of that offense in 2024.
The dangerous-offender designation, which requires a finding that there is no reasonable expectation an offender's risk can be managed in the community, means Seward will serve an indeterminate sentence. The Vancouver Police Department and B.C. Prosecution Service both emphasized the decision reflects their commitment to protecting communities from high-risk violent offenders.