FIVE sex offenders have had their convictions revealed to concerned parents under new laws.

Under the Child Sex Offender Disclosure (CSOD) scheme - known as Sarah’s Law - 53 people in the county made applications about someone their child has close contact with since it came into force on April 1.

The law was introduced across England and Wales following a long campaign by Sara Payne, mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah.

The eight-year-old was killed by convicted sex offender Roy Whiting in West Sussex in 2000.

Lancashire Police revealed the figures under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the first month of Sarah’s Law, 11 inquiries were made but only one disclosure was made.

Officers told a parent from East Lancashire about the criminal past of a man in his 20s. The offender was not told about the application, police said.

Of the five disclosures made in the county up to December, no-one has been prosecuted for breaching the confidentiality rules around the information released by police.

In the other cases, there was no information to disclose or the applications were deemed invalid.

Mrs Payne campaigned for a scheme that allows parents or guardians to check if someone with regular, unsupervised access to their kids - such as a new partner or a neighbour - has a history of child sex offences, if they have reasonable suspicions about them.

A pilot scheme was launched in four areas three years ago, before it was rolled out nationally across other police force areas.

Det Supt Ian Critchley, head of public protection for Lancashire Police, said each application was carefully considered to see if it is necessary for disclosure to safeguard a child.

He said in many cases it is a parent in a new relationship with a partner that has given them cause for concern.