Sex offenders to go free from prison without safety checks

The inmates, including paedophiles, other sex offenders and arsonists, will no longer have to convince the Parole Board they are safe for release.

The situation has been triggered by the Government's decision to reduce dramatically the use of indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs) in a desperate bid to solve the jail overcrowding crisis.

IPPs, a flagship crime-fighting policy of Tony Blair, apply a minimum sentence for the most serious violent, serial and sexual offenders.

When the sentence is served, inmates remain in jail indefinitely until the Parole Board is satisfied they have been rehabilitated. But IPPs have heaped pressure on the jail system and last week Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced they would be imposed only for offences which carry a minimum tariff of two years.

This will exclude many serious offences including most sexual assaults, sexual activity with a child and arson.

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: 'The whole point of IPPs was to protect the public so criminals were not released until they were no longer a danger.

"Either Jack Straw hasn't thought through the impact of these changes or the Government hasn't provided enough prison places.

"Everywhere you look, Labour is giving criminals a break."

Criminal barrister Anna Soubry said: "IPPs were a fantastic idea. But Labour did not put the necessary facilities in place for it to happen."

Since the "super sentences" were introduced in 2005 almost 200 serious IPP offenders have been given a tariff of two years or less.

These include an estimated 94 arsonists, 60 paedophiles and 29 convicted of sexual assault.

Paedophiles who could escape scrutiny before release include Kevin Penn, 40, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, who was given an IPP with a minimum tariff of two years in March 2005 for attacking a boy aged 13. In a previous sexual offence he used chloroform to knock out his victim.

Another is George Sully, 73, who in May received an IPP with a minimum tariff of nine months after assaulting a six-year-old girl when he was a Thomas The Tank Engine train driver at a theme park in Hampshire. He has a string of sexual convictions dating back 38 years.

The reduction in IPPs was a key recommendation of the Carter Review into the prisons overcrowding crisis and was endorsed by the Government last week.

Colin Moses, chairman of the Prison Officers Association, said: "Instead of coming up with all these wishy-washy social-liberal initiatives, the Government should simply legislate for normal sentences that fit the crime." A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: "Any sentence for a serious offence that is below a two-year tariff will be open to appeal by the Attorney General on grounds of undue leniency."