News

Church leaders are to discuss how to deal with the high number of child sex offenders who attend services regularly.

Monitoring by police and probation services suggests that between half and three-quarters of known sex offenders go to church.

David Pearson, director of the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service, said: "Although many churches have highly developed child protection policies, others have been extremely lax and, in some cases, even irresponsible."

He said churches needed to balance support and understanding of offenders with the safety of children.

The organisation will hold a conference next month on the issue.