Pressure for UK paedophile law

Sarah Payne was not Roy Whiting's first victim

LONDON, England -- The British government is resisting pressure to look again at the way convicted paedophiles are dealt with in the wake of the Sarah Payne case.

Roy Whiting, 42, was found guilty of the murder of eight-year-old Sarah in Sussex, southern England on Wednesday in a case that sparked anti-paedophile protests across the UK.

Sarah was not Whiting's first victim -- he had previously sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl and authorities had warned he was a "dangerous paedophile" who could strike again.

In an attack which bore chilling similarities with Sarah's kidnapping, he snatched a schoolgirl off the street in his home town of Crawley, Sussex, in 1995 and subjected her to a violent sex assault.

Whiting was given a four-year jail sentence in June 1995 after admitting carrying out the attack in March that year.

But he was freed in November 1997 despite warnings from probation officers, who were convinced there was a danger he would attack another child.

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They set out their warnings in a pre-sentence report, prepared after the first assault, and in the parole report before he was released from prison.

Psychiatrist Anthony Farrington, who also prepared a pre-sentence report, said that the mechanic was a "high risk", although he said he did not have "paedophile tendencies".

Sarah's parents have vowed to step up their campaign for the introduction of a "Sarah's Law," giving people the right to know about convicted paedophiles living in their area.

Sara Payne, of Hersham, Surrey, told reporters: "The government only can make this decision. Right now, we have got a lot of work to do and it doesn't stop here. It just begins."

She added: "You know what change I want, Sarah's Law."

But UK government ministers are showing no sign of bowing to pressure to introduce laws giving people full access to information about paedophiles.

They say that the most dangerous and determined individuals would be driven underground, preventing the authorities from monitoring them once they are released.

Home Office minister Keith Bradley told GMTV: "What is most important is the protection of our children. Nothing is a higher priority.

"I am determined to legislate in this area to bring in tough sentences and long sentences to ensure that violent and dangerous offenders are not released from prison. And where they are, there is continued supervision of them in the community to ensure the public and children are protected from them."

But on "Sarah's Law," Bradley said: "What I am concerned about is that when people are in the community they are properly supervised and we know where they are.

"With the proposals (Sarah's Law) there is a chance that people will go underground."

He added that the difficult job the authorities already faced would be "undermined" because they would not know where paedophiles were.

While serving his sentence, Whiting refused to take part in a prison scheme designed to rehabilitate sex offenders when he was jailed for abducting and indecently assaulting a child in the mid 1990s.

He was offered help several times but declined.

After Wednesday's verdict, the UK probation officers' union NAPO called for reform of the exisiting Sex Offenders' Treatment Programme in Britain to make it more effective in dealing with abusers like Whiting who are "in denial."