The News of the World yesterday abandoned its "name and shame" campaign identifying and publishing the photographs of convicted paedophiles, following sustained criticism from child protection groups, probation officers and the police that the campaign had begun to drive paedophiles and sex offenders underground.
The newspaper's decision to name convicted paedophiles followed the murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl, Sarah Payne. But the police and pressure groups immediately condemned the move, saying the decision was irresponsible and encouraged people to take the law into their own hands. Since the publication of the lists of convicted paedophiles over the past two Sundays, five men have been targeted, some wrongly, as sex offenders, and in Portsmouth on Thursday the home of a convicted paedophile was stoned.
At a press conference in London, the managing editor of the News of the World, Mr Stuart Kuttner, said although the newspaper had decided to end the campaign after discussions on Wednesday with senior police officers and pressure groups, it would continue to support the "For Sarah" campaign.
The campaign, established by Sarah Payne's family, is demanding a change in the law to allow parents to have "controlled access" to information about paedophiles in their area. The campaign proposes a new law should be styled "Sarah's Law", similar to "Megan's Law" which was introduced in parts of the US following the murder of a young girl by a sex offender.
Sarah Payne's parents, Sara and Michael, had backed the name and shame campaign, but said yesterday they supported the end of the campaign. In a statement the couple said: "`Sarah's Law' will give back power to parents to enable them to protect their children. We support the discontinuing of the News of the World campaign. This debate was long overdue and we look forward to hearing the Home Secretary's response to this decision."
The Home Office Minister, Mr Paul Boateng, appeared to reject the idea of a public register of sex offenders saying "controlled access" was the key to ensuring children were protected. In an interview with Channel Four News, he said the police, the probation service and voluntary groups were "best placed" to determine how children were protected.
Earlier, Hampshire police condemned the violence in Portsmouth on Thursday night.
More than 150 people targeted the home of Mr Victor Burnett, in Paulsgrove, Portsmouth, throwing stones and overturning two vehicles. Hampshire Police deputy chief constable, Mr Ian Redhead, said the violence was unacceptable and the majority of people on the streets were not concerned parents.