Britain tightens travel rules for child sex offenders

The announcement comes as former pop star and convicted paedophile Gary Glitter, 64, was due to return to Britain after spending nearly three years in a Vietnamese prison for child sex abuse offences. Campaigners have said the authorities needed to take tough action to stop him travelling abroad again.

Smith said the case had raised issues about the system but added it was constantly under review.

“The UK has a rigorous system in place for managing child sex offenders, which is among the toughest in the world. The changes I’m announcing today will strengthen that even further,” she said in a statement.

Smith said the proposals, which will require new legislation, would strengthen Foreign Travel Orders (FTO), which prevent sex offenders from travelling overseas at all or to certain countries.

The proposals would also remove the need for police to produce recent evidence from within the last six months to obtain Sexual Offences Prevention Orders.

There are just over 30,000 people currently on the sex offenders register, but campaigners say FTOs have so far proved ineffective and that only a handful have been issued.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said tougher measures were needed to deal with people like Glitter.

“We know about Glitter because of his fame, but there are many other sex offenders, not in the public eye, who are falling off the radar,” said the charity’s policy adviser Dr Zoe Hilton. “His return raises important questions about how UK sex offenders are assessed and managed, in relation to the risk they pose to children abroad.”