650 Sex Fiends Let Off Register

UNDREDS of fiends put on the sex offenders register for life have managed to get their names removed in the past three years.

A Sun on Sunday probe found 72 per cent of the most serious offenders — 657 out of 909 — who applied to be taken off were successful. Once removed, offenders are no longer bound by strict notification conditions such as informing police of their address and whether they live with a child.

Dr Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was murdered by a convicted paedophile in 2000, called for an “urgent review”.

She said: “The sex offenders register needs legal updates and reinvestment to make it the powerful protection tool it was meant to be rather than the joke it’s becoming.”

Those on the register indefinitely (for life) are likely to have been convicted of serious sexual assaults, rape or distributing child abuse images.

Offenders are entitled to ask to be removed after 15 years — eight if under 18 when convicted.

Twenty taken off since 2015 have re-offended. A Home Office spokesman said it has “set the bar as high as possible” for removing offenders from the register.