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Juries in child sex offence trials may be told if a defendant has previous convictions for crimes within the same category, under proposals announced by home secretary David Blunkett, writes Amy Taylor.

The new measures were outlined in an order laid in Parliament this week for debate and will also apply to theft offences

Under the new measures, the “strong presumption” will be that convictions should be revealed to the jury. This would reverse the current position where evidence of a defendant’s bad character is generally inadmissible to court.

The government said the plans would give juries access to information about a defendant’s previous convictions and other misconduct where it was relevant and likely to throw new light on a case, without disproportionately prejudicing the fairness of the trial.

However, a spokesperson for the human rights organisation Liberty said that the plans could cause the wrong people to be convicted. “If you tell a jury with the best will in the world that someone has a string of previous convictions, the overwhelming likelihood is that they will convict,” he said.