Expert casts doubt on Megan’s law

Government plans to examine how parents are given access to information on sex offenders living in their community have been criticised by a sexual crime expert.

Home secretary John Reid said last week that he was sending prisons minister Gerry Sutcliffe to the US to look at Megan’s Law, which was introduced following the murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994. The law allows parents to find out if sex offenders live in their area. There have been calls for a similar law in the UK following the murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne in 2000.

But sexual crime expert Ray Wyre said it was unlikely the government would implement such a law because of the problems associated with it. He added: “There are a lot of states in the US that believe our approach in the UK is better.”

Wyre also raised concerns that the government was not taking people trained in child protection to “ask the right questions” in the US.