A HIGH-risk sex offender from Chorley was this week shackled by a court order banning him from approaching children.

The order was served on the 61-year-old by Chorley magistrates in what is believed to be only the second case of its kind in Lancashire and the fifth in the entire country.

NSPCC practising manager Paul Clarke told the court on Monday that there was a "very high possibility" that the registered sex offender could re-offend.

He said: "His sexual interest in children is very strong and there is a high risk posed to them. We recommend the Sexual Offences Order be served."

The banning order includes licensed premises, caravan parks, playgroups, schools, parks or anywhere children congregate. And, he cannot leave England or Wales without police permission.

The man, who could not be named for legal reasons, was not in court to hear the evidence against him. He faces a possible five-year prison sentence if he breaches the terms of the order.

The rarely used order, which is part of the Crime and Disorder Act, follows an 18-month conviction in February 1988, for four charges of indecent assault and one charge of indecency involving children.

In the five-and-a-half hour hearing, eight women described how the 'scruffy' man frequented pubs in March this year and described how he 'leered' at children in a suspicious manner.

One witness sobbed as she told the court how the man had patted her daughter's bottom and walked his fingers on her children's bare legs.

The man's solicitor, Paul Jackson, said his client denied the accusations that he had acted inappropriately, but admitted he had been in the pubs.

He suggested that the evidence given against his client was the result of witnesses forming opinions of the man after they had learned he was a sex offender.

He said there was insufficient evidence against his client to impose such a "draconian" order on his civil liberties.

Chorley magistrates disagreed and imposed the ban under the Crime and Disorder Act.

Imposing the ban, chairman of the bench Peter Smith, said the man knew he should not have contact with children but had continued to do so.

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