POLICE have applied for a sex offender order to be made against a 40-year-old man who was convicted of having sex with a girl under the age of 13 in 1988.

And they supported a defence application that the man's Ribble Valley address should not be published because of the fear of "vigilantes" taking the law into their own hands.

An interim order has already been granted against Alistair Robert Roe, although details of the terms of the order were not revealed in open court.

Richard Prew, defending, said his client did not accept the making of a full order but he did not resist the making of an interim order while a psychiatric report was being prepared.

He said Roe had been put on probation for three years as a result of the offence in 1988.

The order was being sought because towards the end of last year he was seen in the company of a 10-year-old girl on certain occasions, police said.

Sue McLean, representing the police, said the Constabulary does not want vigilantes taking the law into their own hands and supported the application to ban publication of Roe's details under Section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act.