33 MPs support Commons motion on child abductors

9:28am Tuesday 12th December 2006

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A COMMONS motion backing The Press' Change It! campaign to protect children from kidnappers has now won the support of 33 MPs - including a former Home Office Minister.

George Howarth has added his name to York MP Hugh Bayley's Early Day Motion calling for a loophole in the law to be closed by the Government.

It backs our call for judges to be given the power to put child abductors and would-be abductors on the sex offenders' register so they can be properly monitored in the community. Mr Bayley is hoping such backing from a former Government Minister who specialised in Home Affairs will help break a legislative logjam which means an order has still not been laid before Parliament, despite a pledge by Tony Blair in September that there would be an autumn announcement.

Mr Bayley said Mr Howarth - the first former Home Office Minister to sign the motion - had agreed to do so after chatting to him during a debate in the Commons.

Mr Bayley said the motion had now been signed by MPs from virtually every party at Westminster, and he hoped this would help ensure the order could still be laid before Christmas.

The Change It! campaign was launched after Terry Delaney tried to abduct Strensall teenager Natalie Hick from a bus stop. A judge jailed Delaney for four years earlier this year, but was unable to place him on the Sex Offenders' Register, which would have ensured he could be properly monitored on his release.

Other MPs who have signed the motion in recent days include Ryedale's John Greenway, Andrew Miller, Jeff Ennis, Derek Wyatt, and Francis Hywell.

Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh said she could not sign such a motion because she sat on the Conservative front bench.