PARENTS will be able to request details of suspected paedophiles living in their neighbourhoods under proposals published by the Home Office yesterday.

Plans for a "targeted two-way disclosure" of information about child sex offenders were unveiled as one of the North-East's most notorious paedophiles received a life sentence.

Predatory paedophile Peter Voisey was jailed for life for snatching a six-year-old girl from her bath and sexually assaulting her before dumping her in North Tyneside.

Voisey, 35, who grew up in Darlington but now lives in Blyth, Northumberland, was convicted of abduction, rape and sexual assault last month.

The case re-opened the debate over whether the public should be told of child sex offenders living in their midst.

Now the Home Office has said it wants to make it easier for parents, carers and other responsible adults to find out about paedophiles.

The Home Office plans will be seen by some as a compromise over calls for a US-style "Megan's Law", which grants parents access to sex offenders' home addresses and other details.

A Home Office spokesman said: "If you have concerns about someone and are a parent or carer, you could find out from a trusted, credible third party, such as the police, whether your concerns were justified or not. For example, you could say 'I am concerned about the people who have moved in opposite me, can you tell me if they have convictions for child sex offences?'

"At this stage we are not sure how that might work, that is what we are looking at in this next stage."

He was unable to confirm if parents would only be able to ask for information about a specific individual, or whether they would be able to request details about all paedophiles living in a particular area.

"We are not talking about putting up a website with pictures, as in the States," he said. "We want to make sure that what we do does not drive paedophiles underground, although we are not ruling out doing something on the internet."

It would expand on the present situation, which allows police to warn single mothers who begin a new relationship with a known child sex offender.

Under yesterday's plans, records would be kept of who accessed the information and why. Some of these details would then be published by the Home Office.

''A sense of who is accessing the information and what use is being made of it would be quite valuable,'' the spokesman said.

Information about probation hostels would also be made more easily accessible, the paper said. It also detailed the need for increased surveillance of child sex offenders.

Police already use surveillance on some of the most dangerous paedophiles under the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements - the agencies set up to bring together police and other agencies to manage offenders in the community.

The document also said there should be better use of electronic tagging, satellite tracking and lie detector testing.

Home Office Minister Gerry Sutcliffe has made several trips to the US to examine the operation of Megan's Law, named after seven-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and murdered by a paedophile.

The murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne in July 2000 sparked a nationwide campaign for similar legislation to be introduced in Britain, dubbed Sarah's Law.

The US law gives communities the right to know when a sex offender moves into the neighbourhood, and makes a sex offender register open for public inspection.

Last month, some of Britain's most wanted child sex offenders were identified publicly for the first time on a website dedicated to tracking them down. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre set up the site to get information about paedophiles who had disappeared.

Michele Elliott, of children's charity Kidscape, welcomed the proposals. She said: "We do not think Megan's Law would translate well into the UK and this seems to be a good first step to getting a UK-based community notification programme going.

Harry Fletcher, of the National Association of Probation Officers, said: "It is in the public interest that authorities supervise paedophiles who pose a risk to the public as strictly as possible.

"Any disclosure of information to the public must be surrounded by stringent safeguards which avoid vigilantism."