Fury over paedophile's escape

ANTI-paedophile campaigners reacted angrily yesterday after a convicted child-sex offender escaped on an escorted visit to a swimming pool.

David Marker, 62, has been held in secure hospitals since 1965 after he was convicted of indecent assault, thought to be on a seven-year-old girl. But he is now on the loose after slipping away from two guards at Abraham Moss leisure centre in Crumpsall, Manchester on Wednesday.

The trip was part of a rehabilitation programme preparing him to be released back into the community.

The Department of Health said a Mental Health Tribunal had sanctioned his conditional discharge after hearing evidence that he represented no danger to the public.

But Julie Roberts from Parasol, a group campaigning for stricter anti- paedophile laws, said the situation was a "farce".

"It is an absolute disgrace they were even thinking of letting him out ...

"Anybody, male or female, that has abused a child should be locked away for good."

Peter Garsden, from Manchester-based paedophile monitoring group Abuse Watch, said: "We are extremely concerned for the parents of any child in the community that could fall prey to this man."