Convicted paedophile kicked out of Australia arrives in Britain as experts warn: 'He'll strike again'

His head covered by a blanket and his distinctive white beard still visible, the 61-year-old was met by police at Heathrow before 6am.

He was deported to the UK after serving a 12-year jail sentence in Australia for 14 sex offences after he lured two homeless boys to his apartment while volunteering for a charity.

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Experts criticised Judy Spence, Queensland's Police Minister, for deporting Horne, who has lived in Australia since he was five.

Paul Roffey, director of UK-based RWA Child Protection Service, said: "Let's make it English children instead of Australian children - that seems to be her attitude. It's outrageous.

"These sort of committed paedophiles do not integrate well into society and that often leads to the formation of paedophile rings of like-minded people. Horne, who has lived most of his life in Australia, will have no network in the UK. He will feel even more isolated - increasing his risk of reoffending."

Horne spent the flight to London segregated from other passengers sitting behind a curtain in the crew area. He moved to Queensland in 1952 at the age of five and began offending in the Sixties. He has never been back to Britain since his family emigrated, but he never took Australian citizenship.

Horne has signed the sex offenders' register but will be free to choose where he lives in the UK. He faces a further five years in jail if he is caught alone with a child.

His prison doctor Wendell Rosevear said: "The risk of paedophiles reoffending is known to increase after deportation, due to heightened anxiety. I fear British children will be at risk after he settles into the community."

Professor Freda Biggs of Australian group Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse, said: "There are child sex offenders who should never be released and he's one of them."

Horne was already a repeat offender by the time he was 21, with convictions for assault, drug and sex offences. He spent two months in jail for abusing boys in 1968 and was jailed again in 1992 for indecently assaulting children under 14. He had parole the next year but reoffended within a month. Months after, he lured two boys aged 13 and 15 to his flat and abused them.

When he was jailed in 1996 after pleading guilty to 14 child sex offences the judge dubbed him as "a persistent sex offender who preyed upon young boys."

Australian authorities had planned to keep him behind bars indefinitely but last week declared him an "unlawful citizen" and sent him to Britain. The Immigration Department has not explained why Horne was not deported before.