NUMEROUS alarm bells should be set ringing today -- all the way to the office of Home Secretary Jack Straw -- over the failings exposed by the case of a "high risk" child sex offender being given a council flat close to schools and a nursery in East Lancashire.

It was after 63-year-old convicted paedophile John Parker was discovered letting youngsters into his flat and was said in court to have plied children with alcohol and offered to let them stay in his bed that magistrates at Blackburn imposed a seven-year order on him to stay away from under-18s.

But what is most disturbing is how Parker, despite his conviction and despite being on the sex offenders' register, came to be housed by the council so near to schools -- which was by virtue of his own choice because no-one at the housing department was aware of his past. Nor were education officials aware of his presence.

In any case, police were powerless to prevent him moving to that address. And now that he is there, they are powerless to make him move.

A safe system? Hardly.

These failings only come to light because the alert headmaster of a nearby high school raised the alarm. He demands that there should be much better liaison between the police and housing and education officials.

Indeed, it should be triggered automatically every time anyone on the sex offenders' register is changing address --and strict restrictions applied so that locations where offenders may come into close or frequent contact with children are ruled out.

It may be that now, armed with the magistrates' order, police are better placed to supervise Parker and have the power to restrict where he lives. But this case has chillingly revealed the lax controls that go beforehand -- something that Home Secretary Jack Straw admits he is concerned about.

He must tighten up the regulations firmly and immediately.