Hostel stops housing paedophiles

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A bail hostel in Bristol which a BBC investigation found had failed to monitor child sex offenders properly is to stop housing convicted paedophiles.

Shortcomings at the Brigstocke Road hostel were uncovered in the Panorama documentary last November.

A Home Office inquiry was ordered after the undercover investigation.

However, the decision to remove child sex offenders from 13 UK bail hostels is said to follow a review which began before the scandal was revealed.

Panorama's filming showed convicted paedophile and child-killer Frank Parker befriending children and being allowed to take a teenage girl up to his Brigstocke Road hostel room.

Other offenders were allowed to wander about the city without any proper supervision.

Residents' concerns

Local people have been campaigning to bar child sex offenders from the building, which overlooks a nursery.

Following the decision to remove paedophiles from the hostel, the Home Office said in a statement: "Ministers are 100% committed to protecting the public and take very seriously the need to ensure approved premises are properly managed.

"Indeed, the Home Secretary met residents who had concerns about the Bristol premises in November.

"The decision to move child sex offenders from further Approved Premises is simply a continuation of the policy introduced in the summer by the Home Secretary that child sex offenders should be excluded from Approved Premises directly adjacent to schools and nurseries."

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Probation Service also emphasised that the downgrading of the Brigstocke Road hostel was not the result of the Home Secretary's decision to order an inspection of the service after the BBC revelations.

The status of a second hostel criticised - at Ashley Road - remains unchanged.

Residents at the Brigstocke Road hostel, who have been convicted of child sex offences, are expected to be moved out within the next month.

Two other hostels - Seafield Lodge, in Kilburn, north London, and Welford House, in Birmingham, will also no longer house sex offenders following a risk assessment by the Home Office.