IT WAS the situation a community feared most - and had predicted.

A resident at York's controversial Southview probation hostel was back in jail for offences involving children.

A court heard how convicted sex offender Richard Freshwater spoke to a group of ten and 11-year-old boys during a number of days in one week while he was living at the hostel. But he was already banned from such contact to prevent him from grooming children for sex. Yet he breached this order while living at the hostel - exactly what local residents had feared.

York Crown Court heard it was the fifth time Freshwater, originally from Cambridge, had breached the ban. He was jailed for 21 months, which should offer some comfort to worried local residents.

People living near a probation hostel will always worry they are being put at risk. This is why Southview hostel caused such a stir.

In 1993 protesters rallied 4,400 signatures for a petition against the hostel.

There was further opposition in 2002 when it emerged that new legislation allowed the hostel to house more serious offenders, especially because it was so close to Poppleton Road Primary School.

The local community felt they were being exposed to danger from hostel residents who could be child sex offenders, rapists or murderers.

At the tenth anniversary of the hostel's opening earlier this summer, the manager said she understood such local concerns, but suggested the fears were not valid.

But after the case of Richard Freshwater, local residents will now feel their fears have been justified.

The Probation Service has work to do to ensure the hostel is safe and the people it houses pose no risk. Then it must reassure the community that this is so.

Updated: 11:28 Tuesday, August 17, 2004