KEY POINTS:
John Reid, the Home Secretary, today set out a series of planned new controls on paedophiles, including proposals to suppress their urges with drugs and to force them to undergo lie detector tests.
But he confirmed the Government had abandoned suggestions that it could import a variation of
"Megan's law", under which the names and addresses of offenders are made public, from the United States.
Single mothers will be able to register their concern about a new partner with police and will gain the right to be told if he has convictions for child abuse.
Mr Reid suggested that women would be able to approach police "instantly" to express their fears over a man.
But the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), which opposed the introduction of a UK version of "Megan's law", made clear there would be strict controls on women passing the details to neighbours.
Mothers who encourage vigilantism by spreading around confidential information about child sex offenders living in their neighbourhood could face prosecution.
Terry Grange, an ACPO spokesman, said: "[If] they pass it right round the street to get the mob gathering and public disorder, we would be looking to arrest those that gather and seriously to look at the individual who provided the information for incitement."
The Government has been forced to back away from the "Megan's law" idea amid warnings that it could force potential predators underground and fuel vigilantism.
But the 30,000 registered sex offenders all have to inform police when they begin a relationship with a woman with children.
They will also have to provide information on their internet use, including email addresses, and their passport details.
Ministers are also pressing ahead with more use of "chemical castration", encouraging offenders to take anti-depressants to reduce their sex drive.
It will also pilot forcing paedophiles released into the community to undergo lie detector tests and to be monitored by satellite technology to ensure they are staying away from children.
Mr Reid said: "We already have probably the most robust regime in Europe on this, but these improvements will continue our agenda of refocussing the criminal justice system on the rights of the victim, in this case innocent children, rather than on the rights of the offenders."
But the opposition parties condemned the Home Secretary for selectively briefing elements of the proposals and accused him of encouraging newspapers to believe a version of "Megan's law" would be introduced in this country.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, welcomed the move, but accused Mr Reid of "spinning government policy in a wildly populist way in order to secure headlines before deigning to publish the proposals themselves".
A Tory source said: "John Reid was warned when he took this job to ditch the spin and concentrate on the serious job in hand.
"Given the way he has briefed over the last 12 months on this issue, his attention span still doesn't run beyond the next day's headlines."
- INDEPENDENT
