‘Just help us protect kids’

"TELL us who they are!"

That was the response from York mums today to plans to release more information about paedophiles.

Three regions across the country are to pilot a UK version of Megan's Law.

Under the move, parents, guardians and teachers will be able to ask whether a person who might spend time alone with a child has any child sex convictions.

The system would also make it easier for police to approach and warn a woman who had unknowingly begun a relationship with a known paedophile.

Parents may also be able to request information about whether paedophiles live on a child's route to school.

But they will NOT be given the sex offenders' names and addresses.

June Briggs, whose teenage daughter, Natalie Hick, was almost abducted by Terry Delaney at a bus stop in York, welcomed the moves as a "step forward" today, but added the measures did not go far enough.

"We need to know more," she said. "I would want to know where he (a registered sex offender) is living, and what he looks like. I cannot protect my child if I don't know that.

"Every parent wants to protect their children, but they are not giving us enough information."

Another York mum, who contacted The Press two months ago angry at police for refusing to give details of a sex offender living in her street, said the moves could lead to Chinese whispers against entirely innocent men if parents became worried that someone living on their child's way to school was a sex offender - but did not know who.

The mother-of-two, who lives in the Stockton Lane area and asked to remain anonymous, said: "That could lead to Chinese whispers. It will be is it him? Is it him?' "I think they (the Government) should go further, just so innocent men don't get targeted.

"We need the names. I won't target them. I just want to make sure my children don't go anywhere near them."

Details of the three pilot schemes were announced by Dan Norris, the Labour MP for Wansdyke, in North East Somerset, who says his own area will host the first trial.

Mr Norris, a former child protection officer, said: "We mustn't duck or shirk our responsibility for protecting children.

"These pilots are a very valuable step on the road to making children safer."

Early reports suggested parents may even be allowed to know how many sex offenders live in their street - although they would not be given specific names and addresses.

The reports sparked warnings that, rather than protecting children, the measures could put them in greater danger, by driving sex offenders underground, away from the supervision of probation officers.

Martin Narey, Barnardo's chief executive, said: "This is very, very bad news.

"Sex offenders are very difficult to supervise... they need a great deal of supervision.

"If they flee that supervision - and you can be sure if we have a Megan's or a Sarah's Law, they will flee that supervision - they are unsupervised and much more dangerous."

Paul Cavadino, chief executive of Nacro, the crime reduction charity, said a full-blown Megan's Law would be a serious mistake, "driving offenders underground and increasing rather than reducing risk to children".

"It is difficult to see the advantage of giving teachers and parents generalised information to the effect that there are one or more unnamed sex offenders living in the area," he said.

Later, however, Home Office sources stressed people in the community would NOT have a general right to ask for details about local paedophiles.

Parents may be able to request information about whether known paedophiles lived on their child's route to school, but no more.

Tony Lidgate, of North Yorkshire Police, said today the force welcomed anything that strengthened public protection.

"But we will need to see the details of what is planned and how it will be implemented before we can comment further," he said.

How a UK Megan's Law would work

Under the proposed pilots, parents, guardians and carers will be able to ask whether a person has child sex convictions, if that person is in a position to spend time alone with a child.

Parents may also be able to request information about whether paedophiles live on a child's route to school, but will not be given names and addresses.

The pilots will also build on existing laws which already allow police to approach and warn a woman who has begun a relationship with a known paedophile. Paedophiles often befriend single mothers in order to gain access to their children.

The proposals fall well short of a UK version of Megan's Law, however.

The law was introduced in the US following the death of seven-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed by a convicted paedophile in 1994.

Her murderer, Jesse Timmendequas, had two previous convictions for sexual offences against children - crimes which his neighbours, including Megan's family, knew nothing about.

That law allows public access to some information on the history and whereabouts of high-risk offenders. Supporters say it has been a valuable deterrent and an important tool for curbing their activities.

In the UK, a campaign was launched to introduce similar legislation - dubbed Sarah's Law - following the murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne in 2000.

Sarah was abducted and killed by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting as she played with her brothers and sister near their grandparents' home in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex.

In December, the Home Office made clear ministers wanted to make it easier for parents, carers and other responsible adults to find out about child abusers in their midst.