Media "dictates paedophile policy" says top policeman

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) The government today denied claims by a senior policeman that its policy on paedophiles was being dictated by tabloid newspapers.

Dyfed and Powys Chief Constable Terry Grange yesterday told BBC radio policy was being made up ''on the hoof'' and that government was being blackmailed by the media.

''The last three years has been a litany of abandonment of any real strategic design in the Home Office for the management of sex offenders in favour of trying to find out what one particular tabloid newspaper wants,'' Grange said.

On Sunday, Home Secretary John Reid ordered convicted paedophiles housed in hostels close to schools to be moved out and indicated that the public could be given more information about released sex-offenders.

He took the decision after the News of the World tabloid newspaper presented him with information that 60 paedophiles released after serving their jail terms were living in 11 government-approved hostels close to schools.

Reid said he was also sending junior minister Gerry Sutcliffe to the US to review how parents there are informed when sex offenders are released into the community, under a system known as Megan's law.

The weekly News of the World, Britain's best-selling newspaper, has been campaigning for a British version of the system, Sarah's law, named after 8-year-old Sarah Payne, who was murdered by a convicted paedophile in 2000.

Grange, who speaks on violent crime for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said shifts in government policy in reaction to newspaper headlines were having a detrimental effect on staff working with offenders.

''It is impossible to work consistently, coherently when every month or every six weeks there is a policy change brought about by pressure from the media,'' he said.

''Most of my colleagues, certainly chief probation officers across the country, find it impossible to do their jobs.'' But Education Secretary Alan Johnson denied the government was being led by the media and said it was perfectly reasonable for it to take a ''long, cool look'' at sex offender policy in the US.

''I think parents would say it would be remiss of anybody in responsibility, in a position like the Home Secretary, not to look at these kinds of things,'' he told BBC radio ''We all want the same thing -- we all want to be absolutely sure that our children are safe and secure.'' A Downing Street spokesman said it was important to find a balance between giving the public information about sex offenders and avoiding retaliation by vigilantes.

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