Call for body to check self-employed

A child protection expert is proposing to create an organisation to deal with child sex offenders who are self-employed, Community Care has learned.

Ray Wyre said that self-employed child sex offenders currently fall through the net due to the absence of a professional body to register them and hold them to account.

Wyre said that almost all child abuse by professionals was dealt with in professional misconduct hearings as police rarely found enough evidence to satisfy the criminal court standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt.