POLICE are to review procedures after a court heard it took officers months to charge a convicted child abuser who had offered a boy cash for sex acts.

Terence Bradley, 47, had approached the 13-year-old in Nelson town centre.

The victim pointed him out to police and officers took his details, but the defendant was not charged until four and a half months later, Burnley Crown Court was told.

The defendant, of Fir Street, Nelson, was jailed for six months on Friday after a judge had been told that probation officers felt he posed a high risk of reoffending.

Bradley admitted causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He was given two and a half years extended licence and was banned from working with children.

The defendant also received a Sex Offences Prevention Order for five years and was put on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

A defence barrister claimed in court that the police response showed the matter was not taken seriously.

But Inspector Jon Bullas today said: "I would like to reassure people that it did not take four months for the police to act an investigation was launched straight away.

"However, it does appear to have taken a number of months for us to secure charges against the man.

"Part of the delay may be down to the procedures we have to follow in serious cases of this nature in order to secure the best evidence and therefore a successful prosecution, but clearly, four months is still much longer than we would like.

"With this in mind, I will look into the delay and if any improvements can be made, we will make them."

The court was told by Katie Jones, prosecuting, how Bradley offered the 13-year-old £5 to perform a sex act. The victim swore at him and pointed him out to two police officers.

Later the boy was walking through the centre again when the defendant tried to start up a conversation. When he went into the bus station and sat down, the defendant sat next to him, started chatting and asked if he wanted to earn a fiver by performing a sex act.

Miss Jones said the teenager went to the police station and described the defendant. The boy was interviewed and Bradley was later arrested but denied the offence.

The prosecutor said that in November 1997, the defendant was convicted of gross indecency with a child. He had put on a homosexual porn video in front of an 11-year-old boy, exposed himself and committed a sex act.

Roger Baldwin, defending, said the latest offence was a "crude attempt to chat up a boy by a drunken man."

He said the defendant was seen by police, allowed to go on his way and not seen again for four and a half months. He went on: "It shows the level of interest and gravity shown by the police to this matter.

"It may be that nothing was going to happen until somebody in a senior position looked at this matter and said it needed sorting out."