No 'Sarah's Law', says Straw

Home Secretary Jack Straw said today that parents will not be allowed access to the sex offenders register.

Home Secretary Jack Straw said today that parents will not be allowed access to the sex offenders register.

He said it would be impossible to control public access to the register and it would not help protect children.

His decision comes despite the campaign spearheaded by the parents of the murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, who met him earlier this week and are pressing for the introduction of a law to give parents access to the register.

Mr Payne said the massive public support and the thousands of letters they had received since Sarah was snatched had helped them cope with her death.

A package of measures to strengthen the protection of children and provide more information to the public was announced by Mr Straw.

The proposals include a new statutory duty on the police and probation services to establish arrangements for assessing and managing the risks posed by all sex offenders and other dangerous offenders released into the community.

The Home Secretary would also be given power to issue guidance on these arrangements to the public.

A statutory duty will be placed on the probation service to ask victims or their families if they want to be consulted on the release arrangements for sex and violence offenders sentenced to 12 months or more.

Victims or their families could be kept informed of the offender's release arrangements and details of any licence conditions restricting his or her movements.

The package also includes proposals to tighten up the operation of the Sex Offenders Register and for a new Sex Offender Restraining Order.