Sex offenders who pose a risk to the community face tough new laws fromto protect young children that will be enforced next week.

The new controls will stop paedophiles like child rapist Rhys Hughes from harassing children or placing them in vulnerable situations - if police believe they could strike again.

The 65-year-old served six years of a ten-year sentence for sexual attacks on nine boys and girls between 1957 and 1991 in Sonning Common, near Henley.

At present, Hughes and many other convicted perverts are forced to register their names and addresses with police. Recently Hughes vowed to return home to live near one of his victims.

Up to now the authorities have been powerless to prevent him and, despite villagers' protests, he is currently free to come and go from the medium-secure unit where he is now held. But from TuesdayDecember 1, if police fear these people are a continued threat to children, magistrates can make a Sex Offender Order.

By applying for the order, the police can restrict the freedom of movement of a sex offender and prevent him going near a previous victim's school, playground or home. If he breaches the order, he faces the prospect of up to five years in jail.

Sonning Common parent Amanda Mantell - whose children were not abused by Hughes - welcomed the change. She said: "I think we feel something has been done on the side of parents, but there are so many people out there to harm children that we still want to protect our child."

Home Secretary Jack Straw also supports the new Government crackdown. He said: "I do not believe that communities get adequate protection from the activities of sex offenders, particularly those who prey on children and other vulnerable people.

"There are a number of sex offenders who did not have to register under the Sex Offenders Act 1997 who remain a risk to the community. This cannot be allowed to continue.

"Sex Offender Orders will be applied to sex offenders whose conduct poses a serious threat to children and the public. If this behaviour continues the offender will face a long prison sentence and heavy fines.

"We owe it to our children to protect them from this evil."

The Sex Offenders Act, implemented on September 1 last year, forced offenders to register their names and addresses and the information is kept on a national computer. Among the offences covered by the Act are: rape, incest, buggery, indecent assault on adults or children, and the possession of indecent photographs of children. The act has made it easier for police to monitor 150 registered sex offenders in Thames Valley.

But offenders released prior to the Act are very hard to trace - unless police receive complaints about them.

A spokesman for the NSPCC hoped the new orders would remove 'legal loopholes'.

He said: "We think it is good because it gives another layer of protection to vulnerable children. It will try to fill part of the gap where some sex offenders were released without probation or supervision.

"It helps to fill the loophole there.

"Police often find it hard to track them down. Also, before 1991 anyone convicted before 1991 could be released without having any supervision from probation."

DCI Keith Ringsell, who monitors sex offenders in Oxfordshire, wants to protect the community from offenders without unduly frightening it.

He said: "We have to be very careful about what information we reveal about the existence of sex offenders. "We want to build a network around the sex offender to give us the very earliest information about a man going to re-offend.

"Most offences take place within the family and most people know the person abusing them.

"If the people need to know they will be informed.

The Government have decided there is no right to know and we have to be very careful because information is given to us in confidence."

He added: "With people like Rhys Hughes the best place for him to be is where people know him. If he is driven away and lives in another town, who knows him there? Then he has an increasing opportunity to target other victims.

"To my knowledge there has only been one case where a registered sex offender has gone on to re-offend in Thames Valley."

*A televised debate on sex offenders will be screened tonight (THURS) on First Sight, BBC2, at 7.30pm.

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