'Open' paedophile list ruled out

Sarah's parents at the newspaper's Wapping offices

The government is to give "urgent" consideration to calls for tighter laws on paedophiles - but says complete access to names and addresses is not the answer.

Home Office Minister Paul Boateng told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there were valid arguments about public access to "information of a general nature".

But he added: "Specific names and addresses can only be released where police and probation service working together deem it proper."

Specific names and addresses can only be released where police and probation service working together deem it proper

Paul Boateng, Home Office Minister

On Friday the News of the World newspaper ended its "name and shame" campaign in which it published the photographs and locations of convicted child sex offenders.

The paper has vowed to fight to give parents controlled access to information about paedophiles in their area - a so-called "Sarah's Law", after murdered eight-year-old Sarah Payne.

Sarah's parents Michael and Sara, who met newspaper representatives at Wapping on Saturday, said: "Sarah's Law will never bring Sarah back but this will give parents back their power.

"Ninety-seven percent of the British public want a register and they are going to get it."

The paper had argued every parent should have the right to know if a paedophile was living nearby.

In the United States, parents have the right to such information under "Megan's Law", introduced after the rape and murder of a young girl.

Mr Boateng said he welcomed the newspaper's decision to end its campaign: "It was mistaken to seek to name and shame in this way.

Paul Boateng: promised government response

"It drives paedophiles underground and hampers the work of police, the probation service, and has led to a degree of public disorder that is quite unacceptable."

Sarah Payne's parents, who welcomed the "name and shame" campaign visited the News of the World on Saturday.

They have said they support the News of the World's change of direction.

The paper's executive editor, Robert Warren, denied the campaign had proved an embarrassment.

"It is not a backfire, it is a great leap forward," he told the Today programme.

"We have drawn this [Sarah's Law] up together with the NSPCC, chief constables and the probation service and I hope it will be on the statute books by the end of this year."

He denied the campaign was responsible for sparking a series of vigilante attacks against men identified as paedophiles.

Megan's Law

Introduced by President Clinton four years ago following the murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka

Makes details of convicted child sex offenders available to local communities

Some of the attacks have been on innocent people.

The worst violence came on Thursday night in Portsmouth, Hampshire, when a mob targeted the home of one named offender, clashing with police in the process.

"Anybody hurt as a result of vigilante action we have the greatest sympathy for and we apologise on behalf of the vigilantes," said Mr Warren.

He insisted there was overwhelming public support for the campaign.

"We have received sackfuls of letters every day. I have never known a campaign so powerful."

Sarah's body was found two weeks after she disappeared on 1 July

The newspaper initially ignored warnings from child organisations and police that the campaign would only drive offenders underground.

Concern is already being expressed about how such information could be made public.

The former head of Scotland Yard's Obscene Publications Branch, Mike Haimes, told BBC Radio 5 Live that the idea was fraught with difficulties.

"These people offer all sorts of different levels of risk," he said.

"I wouldn't want to see, for example, the details of a father who had abused his children in the public domain.

"Because all that is going to happen is that the children will then be picked on by their friends...they will be re-victimised."

Risky measure

Former Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard told BBC Radio 5 Live that a public register of paedophiles could actually increase risks to children.

Introducing such a register risked vigilante attacks which "no civilised society could tolerate" and could lead fewer offenders to comply with registration requirements, he said.

The murder of Sarah Payne was, he said, "the most absolutely terrible thing to happen".

But he added that policy makers should consider the consequences of changing the law, to "make sure we don't actually increase the risk to our children."