Why does our county’s police force have one of the lowest rates of disclosure?

Information was given following 14 out of 193 requests – which equates to just 7 per cent.

NSPCC bosses, who collated the figures, warned that low rates of disclosure could put vulnerable children at risk or serious harm.

The Child Sex Offenders Disclosure (CSOD) scheme – known as Sarah’s Law – was introduced in a bid to protect youngsters after the savage murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne, 8, in Kingston Gorse, near Worthing, by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000.

But despite the force’s success in investigating Sarah’s murder, the county is below the national average for informing the public about dangerous predators. This is despite the force also being one of the first in the country to introduce Sarah’s Law.

Figures released today show that since the law was introduced in April 2011, Sussex Police gave information about just 14 out of 193 applications.

Only two police forces across the country made fewer disclosures.

In comparison Suffolk Police disclosed information in a third of cases.

The NSPCC has warned that the wide variation between the number of cases being disclosed across different forces could lead to children being put at risk.

Across the country, 5,357 applications were made to 33 forces between 2011 and 2014, but only 877 applications resulted in disclosures being made.

Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said: “We are both disturbed and surprised by this wide discrepancy of figures across the country, revealing that there is a postcode lottery when it comes to how forces deal with Sarah’s law.

“Families need to know if there are individuals in their area who pose a risk to children. How can you expect parents to make the right choices in order to protect their children if they don’t know who is a threat?”

Sarah Payne Detective Chief Inspector Pierre Serra defended the record of Sussex Police.

He said: “Out of the 193 applications, 14 were given disclosures. Of the remainder there may have been information already shared with partner agencies, no information about that person to disclose, information may already be in the public domain and at times we have made disclosures to family members who have direct responsibility for a child.”

Explaining the process, he said each request is assessed on an individual basis with risk assessments carried out by experienced staff.

An officer meets the person who made the request in order to assess any risk and provide proof of identity.

He added: “Details about a person’s previous convictions are treated as confidential and will only be disclosed if it is lawful, necessary and proportionate to do so to protect a child from harm.

"If the individual enquired about does not have a record of child sexual offences or any other information indicating that they pose a risk of serious harm to the child, then there won’t be any information given because there is nothing to disclose.”

Police officers search for Sarah Payne in July 2000. Police officers search for Sarah Payne in July 2000.

‘SARAH’S LAW WORKS BUT MORE IS NEEDED’

FIFTEEN years ago this month eight-year-old Sarah Payne disappeared from a quiet field near her grandparents’ house in Kingston Gorse, between Worthing and Littlehampton.

The desperate hunt to find her gripped the nation and millions hoped and prayed she would be found.

Sarah should now be a 23-year-old woman.

But she will always be known as the schoolgirl in a red school uniform sweater, because she was brutally murdered by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting.

Members of the public searched high and low for Sarah, but her body was found in Pulborough a few weeks later.

Her death, like her disappearance, provoked a powerful response from the public.

Five years before Whiting seized and murdered her he had been convicted of abducting and sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

He was jailed for two years and ordered to attend a sex offender treatment programme in prison, but within three years of his release, he abducted Sarah in a manner that bore chilling similarities to his previous case.

The case caused a public outcry. How had this man, who was known to be a danger to the public, been allowed to slip through the net and take Sarah from her family?

For years Sarah’s mother, Sara Payne, campaigned for parents to have the right to know if a paedophile was in contact with their children.

Sarah's Law was eventually introduced in Sussex in 2011.

The scheme is intended to allow parents and concerned members of the public to ask for information about the criminal records of people who may pose a risk to children.

However, with individual police forces making their own judgements on whether to release the details of dangerous predators, it has sparked fears that the system is not protecting the children it should.

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: “Families need to know if there are individuals in their area who pose a risk to children. How can you expect parents to make the right choices in order to protect their children if they don’t know who is a threat?

“The police need to be proactive in empowering communities to protect vulnerable children. The wide variation in disclosure numbers doesn’t breed confidence that the scheme is being understood or applied consistently and that is a concern. While there may be very good reasons for not disclosing information held to applicants, some forces seem to be too cautious, which could put children at serious risk of harm.

“We need to see regular independent evaluation of this vital law to make sure it’s working as it should.”

Only this week a Brighton man with a history of sex offences and a court order banning him from being near children was convicted of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl.

Sarah’s Law was intended to warn parents of predatory paedophiles like Samuel James Day.

Day, 32, of Brighton, had already been given a sexual offences prevention order after being caught downloading indecent images of children last year.

His young victim’s mother found out through a friend about his background.

Day had already admitted breaching the order – designed to protect children from him – by driving a young girl to school.

Detective Constable Tom Perry, of the Brighton safeguarding investigations unit, said Day had “preyed” on the girl’s mother to access her vulnerable daughter.

Sarah’s Law disclosures regarding paedophiles like Day may have protected his young victim and hundreds of others like her.

In 2013-14, there were 29,792 recorded sexual offences against children – that is one offence for every 384 children in the country – a 39 per cent increase on 2012-13.

Donald Findlater from the child sexual abuse charity, the Lucy Faithful Foundation, said his main concern was that too few not enough people knew about the scheme.

He said the low number of disclosures in Sussex was not necessarily a sign that police were withholding information.

He said: “I am confident that this law is saving children from being victims of sexual offences.

“The police are saying ‘you have a right to ask about this and in certain circumstances we will reveal that’.

“I’m confident that in cases where there’s information to disclose, that disclosure can be made to a person who is in a position to protect children.

“I’m confident there’s a mechanism that does work in specific circumstances.

“The biggest thing that could make a difference is to make sure that this law is well publicised by the police and people know how to make a request when they think there’s a need.”

FACTFILE

SARAH’S Law allows any member of the public to formally ask the police if someone has a record of child sexual offences.

Not only can parents or guardians make the request, but the police may choose to disclose any details of the offender’s background to the person they think is best placed to protect the child.

The scheme was started in 2008 after being developed with Sara Payne, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, the police and children’s charities.

Police may decide not to disclose information for a number of reasons.

Considerations include the risk posed by an offender increasing through disclosure, the applicant’s need to know the information in order to protect a child or children and the possibility of vigilantism.

If a disclosure is made by police, the information must be kept confidential and only used to keep the child in question safe. Legal action may be taken if confidentiality is breached.

Anyone wanting to ask for disclosure needs to fill in a 12 page form on Sussex Police’s website and email it to the force.