British Paper Stops Naming Pedophiles

L O N D O N, Aug. 5, 2000 -- Britain’s top-selling Sunday tabloid, TheNews of the World, said Friday it was calling off its campaignto “name and shame” pedophiles in the community.

The paper had been pressured by government ministers, thepolice and social workers who wanted it to stop its campaign, which they said could drive child abusers underground.

Angry Mobs

A number of people have been targeted by angry mobs sincethe paper began publishing pictures of people with child abuseconvictions. Some of those attacked were victims of mistakenidentity.

A riot broke out in the southern town of Portsmouth lateThursday night when a mob looking for a pedophile laid siege toa house, threw stones, broke windows and overturned cars. In the process, they trashed his neighbor’s house as well.

Also Thursday, police blamed the newspaper’s campaign forjeopardizing an undercover operation to arrest a sex offender inthe Canary Islands after his picture was printed in the paper.

Stuart Kuttner, managing editor of the paper, which is part ofRupert Murdoch’s News International stable, said it would focusnow on “Sarah’s Law”— a campaign for new legislation to betterprotect children from sex offenders.

“We’ve moved forward,” he says. “What we’re talking about is the introduction of Sarah’s Law…and that’s what we care about.”

Kuttner said the parents of Sarah Payne, the 8-year-oldwhose abduction and murder last month triggered the campaign,backed the paper’s decision.

Similar to Megan’s Law

“Sarah’s Law” would be similar to “Megan’s Law,” U.S.legislation named after a 7-year-old American girl who was rapedand murdered by a neighbor in 1994. It requires convicted sexualpredators to register with police and allows authorities to warnlocal residents of their presence in the community.

Kuttner said its actions served a purpose in acceleratingthe debate about changes to the law. The paper was now workingwith the police and social services to draw up proposals.

He said new laws should state that every parent has theright to controlled access to information about individuals intheir neighborhood, including convicted child sex offenders whomay pose a risk to their children.

That right could also be extended to child-care workers.

Police Welcome Decision

Tom Butler, the chief constable of Gloucestershire and headof the Association of Chief Police Officers, welcomed thetabloid’s decision. “Today marks a move forward,” he told anews conference called by the paper.

“The challenge now is to get down to the detail which isgoing to be difficult because we have got to make something thatworks.”

The National Association for the Care and Resettlement ofOffenders (NACRO), said the newspaper’s exposures had led to asituation “in which lawlessness has flourished, innocentmembers of the public have been targeted by vigilantes andoffenders have gone [under]ground fearing reprisals.

“We are pleased that the joint approach that NACRO has beeninvolved in has shifted the discussion onto a sensible footing.”

ABCNEWS’ Hilary Brown and Reuters contributed to this report.