Paedophiles face 'chemical castration'
Updated on 13 June 2007
Some sex offenders are to be chemically castrated as part of an overhaul of how paedophiles are handled.
Volunteers will be given drugs to suppress their libido under the pilot scheme which will also see compulsory lie detector tests introduced for sex offenders.
Home Secretary John Reid has announced proposals later to allow parents and guardians limited access to information about convicted paedophiles.
For the first time they will be given the right to ask whether a person who has contact with their child is a sex offender. The plans, first announced in April, will mainly apply if the individual is able to spend time alone with a youngster.
There will also be other limited circumstances when disclosures can be made. The system would build on laws which already allow police to approach and warn a woman who has begun a relationship with a known paedophile.
Prime Minister Tony Blair told the Commons the new laws are "a sensible, worthwhile step forward".
The NSPCC welcomed the development, saying "open access" could force convicted paedophiles underground and place youngsters at greater risk of assault.
But the children's charity warned that the new disclosure plans could over-stretch limited resources.
Director and chief executive Dame Mary Marsh said: "We fear the police and other agencies may not have enough officers and funding to make fully considered decisions on information sharing while keeping a grip on known offenders."
The package of measures is expected to put an end to calls for a British version of Megan's Law.
The US legislation commemorates seven-year-old Megan Kanka who was raped, strangled and her body stuffed in a plastic toy chest by neighbour Jesse Timmendequas in the New Jersey suburb of Hamilton Township in 1994.
The murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne by paedophile Roy Whiting in July 2000 sparked a nationwide campaign for similar legislation to be introduced in Britain, dubbed "Sarah's Law".
The system now being proposed would have arguably had no effect on the Sarah Payne case, as she was grabbed by a stranger, and is a far cry from the "Sarah's Law" originally envisaged by campaigners.
© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
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