A quarter of Britain's most dangerous sex offenders are missing from the register created to track their movements.

Figures produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) show that 1,159 of the 4,524 offenders required to register with their local police station have not yet signed up.

Those in jail account for some of them, but between 400 and 500 others are thought to be avoiding detection.

The ACPO admits that many offenders required to register have not done so, but it said the compliance rate was encouraging.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said the situation was worrying but should be kept in proportion.

"I am sure the police and probation service will make tracking them down a priority in the new year, but even if they do the register will only cover a fraction of the sex offenders living in Britain," he said.

"The total number of men living in England and Wales convicted of sex offences against women and children is 110,000."

He said the problem was inevitable, given the way the register operates, and "the only way forward is long-term treatment and supervision."

He believes that any system based on the self-regulation of criminals will have a significant failure rate.

"Why not transfer the information from the central police computer to local police stations instead of getting the offenders to register themselves?" he asked.

"I would say that the fact so many of them have turned up is a remarkable testament to the efficiency of the police and probation service."
 

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