Single mothers could be prosecuted if they disclose the criminal history of a new boyfriend to friends and neighbours under proposals outlined to tackle child sex offenders announced yesterday.

Police said that they could be taken to court for incitement if they revealed information about paedophiles that led to public disorder.

Terry Grange, Chief Constable of Dyfed Powys, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on sex offenders, said: “If we provide the information to somebody and they pass it right round the street and we start to get mobs gathering and public disorder, we would be looking to arrest those that gathered and seriously to look at the individual who provided the information for incitement.”

The Home Office proposals, announced by John Reid, the Home Secretary, fall well short of a US-style Megan’s Law, under which the addresses of known sex offenders are made public. However, they include tightening of registration requirements for all those placed on the sex offenders register.

They also include proposals to offer more paedophiles the opportunity voluntarily to take libido-reducing drugs or antidepressants that suppress sex fantasies, known as chemical castration. Mr Reid said: “The measures will strengthen protection, allowing disclosure for concerned parents and guardians and tougher treatment for those abusing children.”

Under the proposals members of the public will be able to seek details about someone with whom they have a personal relationship and who has unsupervised access to their children. Women will be able to request the information from the police about new boyfriends as soon as the relationship starts.

They will have to sign an affidavit to support claims that a relationship has begun, although details as to how this will operate have yet to be worked out.

Police will conduct checks on criminal records and the sex offenders register, then carry out a risk assessment. The scheme will be piloted in three areas in England and Wales to ensure that disclosure is effective.

Mr Reid plans to tighten sex offender registration requirements by making people give police their e-mail addresses, passport and bank account numbers, disclose whether they are living in a household where there is someone under 18 and tell them of any foreign travel plans.

Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was murdered by the paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000, welcomed the plans outlined by Mr Reid.

“I think this is a really massive step forward,” she said. “We only ever asked for access to information about predatory paedophiles in our areas.”

She said that drug treatment to decrease the sex drive of child sex offenders should be compulsory rather than voluntary. “You’re placing an honour-based system on people that have already shown they have absolutely no honour.”Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said the plan to give more information to the public “sounded like a sop to certain tabloid newspapers”.

Chemical castration

Chemical castration involves drugs that suppress the sex drive

Hormone injections, implants or drugs affect the libido by cutting the production of testosterone, the male hormone responsible for the sex drive

France has conducted tests using the prostate cancer drug Leuproreline to dampen the sex drive of offenders when they are freed from jail

Another effective way of cutting off testosterone is to use a hormone called GnRH agonist, by injection or in spray form

The hormone regulates aggression and sex drive; a reduction in testosterone levels may leave people feeling lethargic

Evidence from Scandinavia suggests that chemical castration can cut rates of reoffending to 5 per cent from more than 40 per cent

The Australian Government rejected calls for chemical castration because there was no proof that it worked

Source: Times database

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