Sex offenders in the region are being closely monitored

The pledge came as Merseyside Police confirmed it had launched an inquiry into how Peter Chapman, a registered sex offender, was able to return to the North-East where he is now accused of killing a Darlington teenager.

Last night, Hazel Willoughby, the Probation Service’s director of public protection for Durham and Teesside, said none of the 405 registered sex offenders in the Durham area are unaccounted for.

Mr Chapman has been charged with the kidnap and manslaughter of 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall, from Darlington, and failing to register a change of address as required under the Sexual Offences Act.

Ashleigh’s body was discovered in a field near Sedgefield on Monday evening.

She had previously arranged to meet somebody she had met on the social networking website Facebook.

Mrs Willoughby said that sex offenders living in the region were subject to very close supervision.

Police and probation officers work alongside each other to monitor sex offenders.

Those recently released from prison are visited at least once a week.

Police also have agreements with other agencies, such as health officials, to provide intelligence on offenders.

Mrs Willoughby assured parents that action would be taken immediately if officials feared an offender was about to abscond or commit another crime.

Because of the close liaison between police and probation, in some cases an offender could be back behind bars within one hour, she said.

Any offender who goes missing would have their details distributed to police forces across the country and abroad.

In most cases, they are picked up again within 24 hours.

Mrs Willoughby said: “An alert should be acted upon immediately.

“I think in Durham we’re very well resourced, although we depend on working with other people.

“It’s important that we get help from other people who feed us with information.

“We’ve got a very strong record and we do fantastically well.”

Mrs Willoughby said statistics showed that none of the most serious offenders in Durham had gone on to re-offend.

“It would be foolish of me to say this could never happen,”

she added. “But I’m confident that agencies are working well together and we’ve got a strong track record with some very committed staff, both in police and probation with a lot of experience.”

Chapman is a registered sex offender who was living in the Merseyside area.

Yesterday, a Merseyside police spokesman said: “It was recently established that he had left his address in Merseyside and failed to notify the police of this.

“He was immediately circulated as being wanted for this offence and efforts have been made since to locate him. As a matter of routine and as with any such breach of requirements by a registered sex offender, Merseyside Police are reviewing Chapman’s case.”

A former police chief said last night that the Government must put more resources into tracking sex offenders if the inquiry reveals a lack of funding or manpower helped Peter Chapman abscond.

Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate, a former Home Office advisor on law and order, helped to set up the sex offenders’ register. He believes the register is still working and is essential for keeping track of sex offenders.

“Before that it was just local knowledge,” he said. “As a detective in Durham, I would be aware of sex offenders in my area but we didn’t have any national intelligence.”

Lord Mackenzie said he believed tagging sex offenders could provide the answer.

Darlington Borough Council’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee has requested an emergency report on internet safety at its next meeting on November 9.

Committee chairwoman Councillor Cyndi Hughes said: “Members of my scrutiny committee want assurances that we are doing all we can to warn young people of the dangers of contact with strangers on the internet.”