The British government has introduced new guidelines informing schools and children's groups of the movements of convicted paedophiles who may be living in their area.
The move precedes the launch of a national register in September that will collate the names and addresses of all convicted sex offenders. It is intended that sex offenders will be compelled to inform the police if they change their name or address.
Announcing the new approach yesterday, the Home Office Minister Mr Alun Michael acknowledged that the guidelines were not a "magic wand" and promised the government would look at new measures to deal "interdepartmentally" with the issue. Under the new code of practice, police officers will be allowed to inform schools and individual groups, such as youth organisations, of the identity of sex offenders, but only "in exceptional circumstances". The restriction on the use of the new code has been put in place to avoid the routine naming of paedophiles which the government believes could lead to vigilante-style attacks.
Mr Paul Cavadino, principal officer of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO), welcomed the guidelines and the restrictions yesterday, saying: "The government is right to restrict the use of these powers to exceptional circumstances and to rule out US-style routine public naming of paedophiles. This would lead to vigilante attacks and cause offenders to go to ground, living anonymously and moving around to avoid detection."
Every case of a sex offender moving into a new community will be dealt with individually, according to the guidelines. The decision to deal with sex offenders on a case by case basis was described as "important" by Mr Tony Butler, a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers.
It is expected that chief police officers will make the operational decision to release details of sex offenders to the community, but Mr Butler insisted the action "must be taken in such a way as to add to that protection rather than endangering it".
However, a member of the group Parents Against Child Abuse said that while the guidelines were a "move in the right direction" they did not "go far enough to protect children". Mr John O'Sullivan, whose son was the victim of a paedophile, criticised the length of time it had taken to implement the guidelines. "It's not going to help them. These paedophiles are going to come out in a couple of months and telling social services that this paedophile's in the area - they know already. It's the parents who need to know."
Last month a High Court ruling decided that North Wales police were right to inform the public that two paedophiles had moved into the area, but the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, warned at the time against a general policy of naming sex offenders.