'Stop name and shame' paper urged

Child protection and offenders' organisations are to meet with senior News of the World executives to urge them to stop "naming and shaming" child sex offenders.

On Sunday, the newspaper printed the photographs and details of another 34 paedophiles as part of its continuing campaign to highlight offenders living in the community.

The way they are trying to protect children is going to do more damage than good.

NACRO

Their campaign is backed by Sara and Michael Payne, the parents of murdered eight-year-old Sarah Payne who say the public has a right to know.

But police, probation officers and children's groups have warned that the paper's move is driving paedophiles into hiding, meaning police lose track of their whereabouts.

Longer sentencing

Representatives from the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Diana Lamplugh from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, are taking part in Tuesday's meeting with News of the World staff.

A spokeswoman for Nacro said: "We are hoping to convince the News of the World that the way they are trying to protect children is going to do more damage than good.

The paper is backing calls for "Sarah's Law"

"We hope they will back our call for longer sentences for paedophiles, which means they will not be released so long as they pose a threat."

The newspaper has also organised a petition to Home Secretary Jack Straw to introduce "Sarah's Law" - an equivalent to Megan's Law in the USA, which gives the public access to a register of sex offenders.

But the Nacro spokeswoman said such a law in Britain would be "counterproductive", and would make monitoring more difficult.

'Misjudged' campaign

Representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Association of Chief Officers of Probation may also attend Tuesday's meeting.

Acop has complained in writing to the News of the World over its "misjudged" campaign.

In the letter, which has been passed to the Press Complaints Commission, Acop said that the newspaper has hindered its statutory work to supervise offenders by driving them underground.

It also complained that the campaign risks identifying innocent relatives of offenders, many of whom are victims, and encourages violence.

Vigilante attacks

The newspaper has been accused of sparking vigilante attacks against people who look like the offenders and against the offenders themselves.

On Friday night a group of around 60 people waving banners and shouting abuse attacked a house in Plymouth, throwing paint at a house they had mistaken for the home of a paedophile.

We believe that people should know if there is a dangerous serial sex offender living close by

News of the World

Last week, an innocent Manchester man was also confronted in his home by neighbours who thought he was one of the 49 individuals named in the newspaper's first "name and shame" edition.

But the News of the World's managing editor Stuart Kuttner insisted: "This is not a vigilantes' charter. We believe that people should know if there is a dangerous serial sex offender living close by. It is as simple as that."

Home Office Minister Paul Boateng said that existing laws allow schools, local authorities and parents to be notified if offenders who pose a risk are released in their area.

On BBC 1's Breakfast with Frost, Culture Secretary, Chris Smith, questioned the newspaper's methods.

"It is a noble motive... to want to ensure the issue of paedophiles is more widely discussed and children are properly protected. "But I fear that this is not the right way of going about doing it and I feel it would be wise for the News of the World to listen to the advice of the police on this."