A new system to prevent convicted child abusers from repeating their crimes is set to be put on trial in Essex

The move is the latest development in a Colchester woman's fight to stop people reoffending once they have been released from jail.

Shy Keenan is a spokeswoman for Phoenix Survivors, a group representing the victims of child sex abuse, and has been trying to get the Government to adopt a tracking system.

The Virtual Probation Officer (VPO) project would see convicted child abusers having tags inserted under their skin once they are released from prison.

It uses global satellite technology to pinpoint an offender's exact position so they can be tracked 24-hours a day and warned if they go to places where children may be.

The group has won support from a local authority in south Essex to test the system on known abusers who have volunteered to help the project.

Ms Keenan said she was hoping to expand the trials so the VPO could be tested in the north of the county as well possibly around Colchester.

The system would be a better way of preventing reoffending than the Sex Offenders' Register, which often allowed abusers to slip away from surveillance, she added.

"This is not a fix, but it will be a lot more than the sieve that is the Sex Offenders' Register," she said. "We need to do more if we want to deal with these problems."

Ms Keenan said Government ministers had been supportive of the VPO initiative, but so far they had only looked at using a simple tagging system.

The VPO would be different because it would offer sex offenders a 24-hour telephone helpline for them to call if they felt tempted to reoffend.

Ms Keenan said it was vitally important to give this type of round-the-clock treatment to stop people repeating their crimes and hoped the trials would win over ministers.

Phoenix Survivors had already teamed up with the NSPCC to set up the helpline, she added.

Published Wednesday, April 30, 2003

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