HE was jailed for six years for sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl and is wanted by every police force in the UK - but eight weeks after he vanished dangerous paedophile Stephen Burnell is still on the run.

Police have repeatedly refused to release a picture of the 53-year-old pervert to The Press despite the fact it could help members of the public recognise him and bring him to justice.

Today a York child abuse victim and a charity that works with victims of crime both urged the police to release Burnell's picture for the sake of other children.

But North Yorkshire Police spokesman Ron Johnson said: "Before releasing a photograph we are obliged to carry out a detailed risk assessment, which must include, and take into account, the family of the victim. That situation has not changed."

Clive Elliott, operations director of the Victims Of Crime Trust, said it "beggars belief" that Burnell had been given bail for such serious crimes in the first place.

"An attempted rape of any person is a very serious crime, but it makes it all the more aggravating when it is an innocent, defenceless child. And for this individual to have been given bail surely would have put other children at risk," he added.

"The sentence shows that the courts do believe that this was a serious crime, which deserved a long sentence, so one asks why was he given bail in the first place? The courts have failed this family - and other children - by releasing such a dangerous individual on bail. He is now on the run and he remains a danger to children until such time as he is arrested.

"We would urge police to give as much information as possible to the public - including releasing his photograph - so that this individual can be arrested and put in prison as soon as possible because, as long as he is at large, he is a danger to children."

A York mother who was abused as a child, but who eventually came forward to ensure her attacker was jailed, also urged the police to release a picture of Burnell to the public.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "Surely the longer he is on the run the more likely he is to strike again? To be abused as a child is the worst thing a person can experience and the police must do anything they can to stop it from happening to another victim.

"As a mother myself, I find it terrifying to think that this man is at large. Every parent should have a right to know what he looks like so they can protect their children from him."

The Press told earlier this month how fugitive paedophile Burnell had been sentenced to six years in his absence for abusing a nine-year-old girl.

The 53-year-old was found guilty at the beginning of March for sex offences including attempted rape, but he had already gone on the run.

Burnell went on the run while awaiting trial for attempted rape, two charges of making pornographic photos of his victim and eight sex attacks on her.

Judge Stephen Ashurst insisted that the trial went ahead without him and the jury convicted him in his absence. The judge had already signed a bench warrant for his arrest. When the police reported after a month that they had failed to find the paedophile, he sentenced him anyway.

Burnell, previously of a South Bank address, another York address, and last believed to be living in north west Wales, was jailed for six years, put on the Sex Offenders' register for life and banned from working with children.

The jury at York Crown Court heard the girl describe how Burnell photographed and filmed her during years of abuse in York and Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. On one occasion he tried to rape her.

The jury heard that both the girl and her parents initially decided not to involve the police, but spoke out when they learned he was living with a household that included a daughter.