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Sara Payne: NSPCC 'Undermining' Sarah's Law

Sara Payne: NSPCC 'Undermining' Sarah's Law

The mother of the eight-year-old girl whose murder by a paedophile led to the creation of a law intended to protect families has defended the legislation.

Sara Payne contacted Sky News in response to NSPCC research which found that just one in six enquires under Sarah's Law led to information being given out .

The murder of her daughter Sarah by Roy Whiting in July 2000 prompted calls for a UK version of the Megan's Law which allows people in the US to find out the location of sex offenders in their area.

In 2011, after a series of pilot projects, the Child Sex Offenders Disclosure scheme, the official name for Sarah's Law, was launched.

It allows parents and carers in the UK to find out if someone they suspect of putting their children at risk is a registered offender.

Ms Payne told Sky News that although only a sixth of applications had resulted in information being given, she was pleased that 877 people out of 5,357 had received information they would not have had access to without the law.

But the campaigner, who was awarded an honorary doctorate and an MBE for her work, also criticised the NSPCC for not working hard enough to promote Sarah's Law.

She said: "One in six is better than none in six! It's no surprise to me the NSPCC have published such a negative report on 'Sarah's' Law' so close to the 15 year anniversary of her abduction and murder.

"Oxymorons - The NSPCC are right and wrong in the same sentence with regard to their most recent report.

"Wrong to constantly decry (from idea, to inception, to implementation, to now) what is a very useful child protection tool, that has demonstrably acted to protect hundreds of children so far.

"Right to point out that it should not be a 'postcode lottery' of services and should be properly rolled out, trained and funded in equal parts across the UK.

"Now why doesn't the fully funded big national child protection charity, stop undermining what really helps those on the frontline in child protection and start helping me to sort this very real problem out?"

The NSPCC investigation showed that not only were many inquiries not responded to, the rate of response varied depending on which police force they were made to.

The charity justified its investigation and said that despite Ms Payne's fears, it, like she did, wanted a full evaluation of the law to make sure it was working as it should.

An NSPCC spokesman said: "As we said, this is a vital law, and important in the fight to protect children.

"However, the figures clearly show that there is a postcode lottery, which is disturbing and surprising.

"We think there needs to be regular independent evaluation to ensure the law is working as it should.

"We receive the overwhelming majority of our funding - more than 90% - from public donations, and are totally committed to helping protect every child who needs our support."