PROBATION bosses have admitted that a dangerous child sex offender went on the run - after they put him on a train and told him to make his own way out of East Lancashire.

The man is a Schedule One sex offender - the most serious category - and police today warned there was "every likelihood" that the "ultra-high risk" offender will carry out sex crimes.

Probation officers decided that 38-year-old Michael Wilson - who is originally from Halifax and has a history of sex offences against young boys in Lancashire - was too dangerous to be kept at Highfield House Bail Hostel in Accrington.

So they took him to Accrington train station and put the registered sex offender on a Preston-bound train so he could return to Liverpool, where he is alleged to have carried out a burglary.

He never arrived. Police last night launched a manhunt and took the unusual step of releasing his name and photograph.

Shocked residents and Hyndburn MP Greg Pope heard Lancashire Probation Service bosses explain how Wilson had gone missing - at a resident's association meeting held just an hour-and-a-half after police issued an urgent appeal to help find him.

Probation chiefs had agreed weeks ago to attend a meeting of the Scaitcliffe Residents' Association in a bid to reassure people living near the bail hostel that their offenders posed no risk to the public. But during the debate, a local man stunned residents when he told probation chiefs he knew that Lancashire Police were hunting Wilson - and that the offender had been at an Accrington bail hostel before his disappearance.

Walter Brown, 40, who lives opposite the hostel in Lydia Street, Accrington, said: "Blackburn Police say this man is ultra-dangerous and he has a history of offences against young boys. The police say he was at a bail hostel in Accrington before he went missing. What have you got to say about that?"

Peter Simpson, Lancashire's assistant chief probation officer replied: "The reason he was on the train was because he was going out of Accrington and back to Liverpool.

"We did a risk assessment and decided we couldn't keep him at Highfield House - he was too dangerous.

"He was here during the weekend on a burglary charge. The court decided that he should not be remanded in custody. Merseyside Probation Service bailed him to us.

"Once we carried out the risk assessment, we decided straight away we could not keep him here. He was escorted to the train to go back, but he didn't go back to Liverpool."

Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said he would be speaking to probation bosses to find out why Wilson had not been given a risk assessment before he got to the hostel, rather than two days after his arrival.

Mr Pope told residents he would contact Home Office Minister Paul Boateng to ask for a review on whether Schedule One sex offenders should be placed in bail hostels.

Hostel manager Sue Poole said that assessments often needed to be carried out after probationers had met offenders face-to-face. Mr Pope said he had been horrified when he first heard about the case, but had been reassured to some extent by the probation service's decision to remove Wilson from Accrington.

Detective Inspector Tony Harling of Blackburn CID said: "Because of the severe nature of the sex offences and the danger he represents to the community we have decided to alert people.

"Michael Wilson is an ultra high risk sex offender and there is every likelihood that he could re-offend.

"If anyone knows of his whereabouts or has seen anyone fitting his description they should make no attempt to approach him and should contact the police as soon as possible."

Mr Simpson said that, to his knowledge, Wilson had not carried out any sex crimes since 1992 and had completed all his sentences. He had been living in Liverpool until he appeared in court charged with burglary.

He said that Mr Wilson had not posed a risk while he was under supervision at the hostel, but added: "He is now a risk. He could find accommodation with children because we don't know where he is."

Wilson is described as white, 5ft 4in, with a medium build, tanned complexion and has shaven hair which is light brown when grown. He has a distinctive scar on the left side of his face and wears an earring in his left ear.

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