Parents get new law on paedophiles

Ministers are to consider rolling out a pilot programme currently operating only in Tayside under which parents can request background checks on anyone who has close contact with their children.

The scheme effectively goes halfway towards a "Sarah's law" – named after eight-year-old Sarah Payne, who was murdered by convicted sex offender Roy Whiting – which called for the publication of the names and addresses of paedophiles and known sex offenders.

In this case, however, only those parents who ask for information will receive it. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will wait for the results of the Tayside pilot, due next year, but senior Scottish Government sources said the intention was to roll the scheme out across the country after that.

The move follows the trial of 38-year-old James Rennie and 41-year-old Neil Strachan, who were last week given jail sentences amounting to 29 years after having filmed themselves abusing the children of unknowing friends.

The Tayside pilot began in September and will now run until May. If police are alerted about an individual there is a presumption that they will inform the parents if that person has convictions for sex offences.

Parents are only able to make enquiries about people who have regular unsupervised access to their children. They are also warned that the information they are supplying must be correct and that there may be legal consequences if they have made false accusations.

Families have also been asked to keep confidential any information they receive. However, if their suspicions are confirmed, and a serious risk of harm is evident, then child protection measures will be implemented.

SNP ministers have ruled out a "blanket disclosure" plan, saying that paedophiles would end up changing their names.

A spokesman for MacAskill said: "This important pilot to improve child safety will run until May, with a final evaluation report due next summer. We hope and believe it will be successful, in order that it can be rolled out beyond Tayside."

The new scheme would not have revealed Strachan and Rennie, as they had no previous record of sexual abuse. However, trials in England have already led to parents being given crucial information about adults they had begun to suspect.

In one case, police were contacted by a parent who was concerned about the behaviour of a family friend. They were then informed that the man had breached a court order that should have stopped him being alone with children.

Police in England and Scotland have said the scheme has given parents more confidence about knowing their children are safer. But there are also warnings that the scheme could lead to paedophiles going underground to avoid detection.

The Scottish Conservatives, who earlier this year called on ministers to pilot the scheme, said the time was now right to roll it out nationally.

Bill Aitken, the party's justice spokesman, said: "The horrific evidence in the recent trial has appalled every right-thinking person and has unfortunately confirmed what a number of us had suspected, namely that this sort of crime is much more prevalent than was generally thought."

He added: "We need measures in place to protect against convicted sex offenders who might be grooming a child right under the noses of unsuspecting parents. If this initiative works, it will deter some sex offenders and detect others."

However, Paul Cavadino of the charity Nacro, which works to rehabilitate offenders, said:

"The risks which have to be assessed by the pilot are essentially about whether that information would leak out into the wider community from the parent."

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said: "The pilot in Tayside is now under way and being assessed, and if it is successful and appropriate then it will be rolled out nationally, with the full support of the Scottish Police Service.

"But first we do have to wait until the success of the pilot has been assessed."