Sarah's Law A Police 'Postcode Lottery' - NSPCC

A leading charity has warned that children are at risk from paedophiles because the police are not complying with a law designed to protect families.

Sarah's Law was introduced following a public outcry after the death of Sarah Payne, who was abducted and murdered by Roy Whiting in July 2000.

It allows members of the public to ask for information about specific individuals who are suspected of putting a child or family member in danger.

Research by the NSPCC found that police complied with only one in six requests with "very few" police forces in England and Wales providing the details required.

The children's charity said that, between 2011 and 2014, 5,357 applications were made to 33 forces but only 877 applications resulted in information being given.

Among the forces studied, the charity discovered that Warwickshire police gave out the details requested in just 1% of cases.

Another force, Sussex - the force that investigated Sarah Payne's murder - passed on information in 7% of applications.

The Child Sex Offenders Disclosure (CSOD), as Sarah's Law is officially known, was rolled out in April 2011 following a long-running campaign by the News Of The World - backed by Sarah's parents - calling for a UK version of the US Megan's Law.

Megan's Law - named after Megan Kanka who was murdered by a paedophile New Jersey in 1994 - allows for the public naming of all registered sex offenders living in an area in the US.

Amid concern that Megan's Law could lead to vigilante action, it was proposed that a UK version of the law should only allow a parent or carer to have access to information about an individual.

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.

"The police need to be proactive in empowering communities to protect vulnerable children."

The police said the figures were misleading and didn't take into account the many enquiries about people on whom the police had no information.

Simon Bailey, National Police Chiefs' Council lead on child protection, said: "Where an application was made but no information on that person existed, that would not be logged as an occasion where information about someone who posed a risk to children was provided to the applicant.

"The reason for this being quite simply that there was no information to disclose."

"We also have to accept that on occasions the process is being abused by applicants who have ulterior motives and are simply seeking reassurance about individuals connected with their children," Mr Bailey added.

"I am assured of a consistent approach in dealing with Sarah's Law applications across forces and can reassure the public of the police service's absolute commitment to the protection of children."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The UK has some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with sex offenders. This includes the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme."