Forces lose 29 sex pests

Twenty-nine sex offenders from Staffordshire and the West Midlands have gone missing after failing to tell police where they live, shock new figures have revealed.

Statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show forces across the UK have lost track of 322 freed fiends including rapists and paedophiles.

The figure for Staffordshire Police is four, with 25 missing from the West Midlands force area.

In London, 88 offenders have gone missing. The figure dropped to 18 for Greater Manchester.

But the forces refused to name or reveal any details about the criminals.

This included how many were paedophiles.

Commanders also refused to say how long they had been missing and argued that giving details and descriptions of the convicts would hinder attempts to find them and even put their safety at risk.

Staffordshire Police spokesman Peter Bate said: "There are robust arrangements in place to manage registered sexual offenders in Staffordshire through the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA).

"There is currently over 99 per cent compliance by registered sex offenders in meeting their registration requirements in Staffordshire."

Last year it emerged offenders were exploiting a loophole which allowed them to give vague details of where they lived.

One paedophile who went missing gave his address as "woods" after moving from "a tent near Guildford leisure centre".

Michele Elliott, founder and director of Kidscape, which campaigns to protect children from abuse, described the findings as "frightening".

In October, it emerged that the number of violent and dangerous sex offenders living in the West Midlands had rocketed because they were being released from prison to be treated in the community.

The figures showed the region was home to 716 so-called category two sex offenders - convicts who have been jailed for a year or more - an increase of 39 per cent on the previous year.