A PETROL bomb thrown at a house in Hindley Green is thought to have contributed to the resident's departure.

Convicted sex offender, Alan Rhoden moved out of his Hawthorn Avenue home last Friday, after a demonstration by neighbours made it clear he was not welcome.

Rhoden, 44, is on bail until October 19 after being convicted last week at Bolton Crown Court of six counts of indecent assault on a 14-year-old girl.

The father of one had lived in the street with his wife and son for five years and was said to have had a good relationship with neighbours.

After hearing of his conviction, around 20 mothers and grandmothers from Hawthorn Avenue organised a peaceful demonstration, which was staged outside his house at 7pm on Thursday.

They displayed posters made up of a newspaper article and the words "pervert get out" in their windows. They made banners and shouted "save our children", "get out" and "leave our children alone".

The demonstration, which was discussed with police beforehand, included police presence and went without incident.

A spokesman for the group said: "We didn't want any violence, that's why only women demonstrated. We needed to let people know which house was his, we have to protect the large number of children in the street. We're frightened and it was so difficult for us to go out there - emotions were very high afterwards. But we had to do it for our children."

Later that night residents were awoken by commotion at about 11.40pm. A petrol bomb had been thrown into Rhoden's garden, causing slight damage to the fence.

A police spokesman said: "Earlier in the evening a small number of people carried out a demonstration where no offences were committed. We are now investigating the petrol bomb as a separate incident."

Rhoden and his family are said to have vacated their council property on Friday evening leaving neighbours breathing a small sigh of relief.

A spokesman said: "It's brilliant news, but we realise he could come back. All we can say is that we won't rest until our children are safe from men like him."

The neighbours' main concern are the CCTV cameras surrounding Rhoden's house.

"He is listening to and watching our children play. We trusted him, our children trusted him. All we can pray now is that no video footage of our angels has been put on the internet. You just don't know what these people are capable of - especially since that's where he met his last victim."

Rhoden was unavailable for comment.