AVON and Somerset policing area has the second highest number of registered sex offenders in the West.

AVON and Somerset policing area has the second highest number of registered sex offenders in the West.

There are 809 perverts living in the area, compared to just over 300 in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, 415 in Dorset and 655 in West Mercia.

The figure has gone up by 22 since last year and the only area containing more sex offenders is Devon and Cornwall which has 920.

The figures come in the same week as chief constable Colin Port has said the force will not take part in a planned pilot scheme based on Sarah's Law which would give parents and schools the right to know if paedophiles lived nearby.

In Avon and Somerset, Bristol has the most with 270, the Somerset West district, which includes Sedgemoor, has the second highest amount with 158 and North Somerset has the third highest, with 95.

Public protection agencies, including Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Avon and Somerset Probation Area and HM Prison Service, are responsible for making sure people are kept safe from the offenders.

But according to the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements' (MAPPA) annual report, more than 11 of the offenders have breached their sex offender orders between April 2006 and March this year.

MAPPA are the procedures put in place to manage offenders living in the community.

Speaking on behalf of the scheme, assistant chief constable Jackie Roberts said: "We can never entirely eliminate the risk, but what we can do is share information to make sure our decision-making and actions are as informed as possible and do everything we can to protect our communities.

"Under MAPPA we know that offenders are monitored through every step of their release and when they live in society.