Deported paedophile monitoring call

Raymond Horne, 61, was met by police when he landed at London's Heathrow Airport in the early on Thursday on a flight from Brisbane.

Queensland's minister for police and corrective services, Judy Spence, said the state was "well rid" of the predatory sex offender, whose convictions go back over 40 years.

Horne was placed on the UK sex offenders register - and could be banned from having contact with children under a sexual offences prevention order (Sopo) if a court rules he presents a serious risk to youngsters.

He moved to Queensland from Britain in 1952 at the age of five and had a series of drug, assault and sex convictions by the time he was 21, according to reports.

In 1996 he was jailed for 14 sex offences committed after he lured two homeless boys, aged 13 and 15, to his flat while volunteering for a charity, Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper reported.

He never became an Australian citizen, and the Queensland authorities decided to revoke his visa and send him back to the UK after he completed his latest sentence on Wednesday night.

Ms Spence told the BBC: "If he had stayed in Queensland, we would have regarded him as someone we would have wanted to watch for the next 15 years under very close supervision."

A British child protection expert voiced concerns that Horne's isolation in the UK, where he has no family or support network, might make him more likely to offend.

Paul Roffey, a director of RWA Child Protection Service, said: "He has already been identified as somebody who is high risk. This is a situation that could only exacerbate that risk."