POLICE have vowed to protect a city's children following the release from jail of a York sex offender classed as one of Britain's most dangerous paedophiles.

Stephen Carruthers, 43, was ordered to serve four life sentences two years ago after being found guilty of raping and abusing two boys.

But following a ruling by the Court of Appeal he faced a re-trial at another courthouse and was acquitted by a different jury of two charges of false imprisonment and two allegations of raping the boys.

Carruthers, who and had convictions against him for sex offences in York in 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1991, was freed at Stafford Crown Court on Wednesday.

He is now living at a secret address in Manchester and will remain on the Sex Offenders Register because of his record.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "We can assure the public that a variety of agencies throughout Manchester are regularly working together to ensure that pro-active measures are taking place to ensure they are well protected."

Residents in the Fossway area of York raised a petition against Carruthers in 1987 after suspecting him of child abuse, and after he moved to Wenlock Terrace he was beaten up by three men who alleged he had interfered with children.

He moved to Manchester in the 1990s, married and had two children, but was accused of molesting youngsters.

He was cleared of indecency three times, and split up with his wife and children.

In 1997, he was branded "a danger to children" by a judge who jailed him for seven years for indecently assaulting an 11-year-old boy.

While Carruthers was serving his sentence in Manchester's Strangeways prison in 1998, he molested a ten-year-old boy who was smuggled into the jail by his stepfather, Gerald Frank, as a sick 40th birthday present. Frank, 81, died in Frankland prison, Durham, in July 2001 He was serving a five-year term for indecency.

Updated: 10:30 Saturday, April 12, 2003