The 5,000 men whose warped minds threaten our children

Mr Justice Richard Curtis called him a "fiend" and said he should be jailed for ever. Howard Hughes, paedophile and murderer of seven-year- old Sophie Hook had made "every parent's nightmare come to pass".

After Hughes left Chester court the judge said it was time to change the law to protect society from evil men. There are, by most estimates, about 5,000 men in Britain convicted of sex offences who are obsessed with having sex with young children.

Mr Justice Curtis called for greater supervision of convicted paedophiles, adding: "If such action is taken, perhaps Sophie Hook will not have died wholly in vain."

A register of sex offenders, a new law to ban them from even trying to get a job with children, and compulsory DNA tests for those convicted are among the steps already being taken by the Government.

Offenders would have to register with police when they moved address, so their whereabouts would always be known and on the national computer. However, paedophiles have a high rate of re-offending.

According to Catherine Doran, a child protection specialist in Haringey, north London, paedophiles are still operating in residential institutions, although almost 20 men, many of them care workers, have been jailed for offences against children in homes.

"There is little doubt that career paedophiles are operating within residential provision in this country," she says.

Paedophiles, she says, come from all social classes, but their victims are usually working class and vulnerable children.

Paedophiles themselves say there are two types of abusers, the non-predatory and the predatory. The non-predatory are those who believe children can enjoy and can give consent to sex acts. One offender had 20 amusement machines in his garage to attract young people, says Dr Ray Wyre, a psychologist and expert on sex crime.

Predatory paedophiles sexually abuse. Like Hughes, they are prepared to abduct children. "They are willing to grab a child, to abuse and manipulate, to threaten, and to ignore the hurt and the pain the child is expressing," Dr Wyre said.

Characteristics of paedophiles are that they are over 25, have no dating pattern with men or women, select children who are physically or emotionally neglected, do not marry or have a marriage of convenience, and belong to children's organisations.

They also often enjoy photographing children, as did Hughes. Some operate as loners. But others are part of an informal network, where photographs, contact magazines and addresses are exchanged.

Ms Doran urges closer monitoring than the Home Office announced. "If there is an investigation and it comes to nothing, it should still be reported to the Department of Health, or wherever, so that there are central figures. At present, if it comes to nothing, the investigation is only known about among those who carried it out." Others want an allegations register. That might, for example, have picked up the Dunblane gunman, Thomas Hamilton, at an early stage.

An insidious trait among paedophiles is the so-called grooming of victims to become abusers themselves. The paedophile will encourage the child to abuse others, which turns the child into a perpetrator who is less likely to complain.

One problem with bringing paedophiles to justice is that their victims refuse to give evidence or the courts do not value their judgement.

Violent paedophile, page 8