Sex abuse victims last night demanded to know where paedophiles and attackers live after it emerged there are now 323 in the county.

Police and the Probation Service yesterday revealed the number of people on the Sex Offenders' Register who are being monitored by officials had gone up from 306 the previous year.

While none has been caught committing further crimes, a handful have fled from police monitoring and thought to be on the run overseas.

The news sparked renewed calls for parents to be told if a sex offender lives in their neighbourhood.

The number of violent and other criminals - including minor sexual offenders who are not on the register - living in the Thames Valley who are being monitored under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa) has risen to 1,962 this year, from 1,755 in 2005-6. No separate figures were available for Oxfordshire.

Jo Williams, 47, from Witney, was sexually abused as a teenager. She said: "They get too much anonymity as it is.

"I would prefer a Megan's Law in this country, so you could check your suspicions. But I don't know how I would react if I knew one of these 323 people had moved into my street."

Ian Gilbey, 48, of Mereland Road, Didcot, was put on the Sex Offenders' Register for seven years and given a three-month suspended sentence this month for sexual assault.

His 17-year-old victim said: "Even when they're let out of jail, they could still be harmful. I think we should know where they all are."

Michele Elliott, director of children's charity Kidscape, added: "I would be very worried if one of these offenders were living next door to me."

Across the Thames Valley there are 982 serious sexual offenders on the register.

A further 770 violent and other sexual offenders, including criminals sentenced for knife and gun crimes, are being monitored under Mappa, along with 210 sentenced for offences such as arson and threats of violence.

In the past 12 months, 92 violent and two sexual offenders were recalled to prison for breaches of licence, although police could not break down the number for Oxfordshire. None was jailed for reoffending.

Kilvinder Vigurs, director of Thames Valley Probation Service, said: "Telling where people live could send them underground.

"But we do tell schools and doctors if we think someone is at risk and if new relationships are formed we do inform the new partners."

Det Chief Insp Tim Price, leader of public protection for Thames Valley Police, said officers knew where 98 per cent of the serious sex offenders were. The rest had fled abroad.

He added: "There's a rise in the (total) number on the register, but we have come from a situation where we had no-one on a list.

"But I don't think people should be alarmed, because these are the ones we're monitoring and managing.

"A few years ago, they weren't on the register, and that was a much more dangerous situation."

Thames Valley has fifth lowest number of Registered Sex Offenders in England and Wales per 100,000 residents.