All parents will breathe a sigh of relief that child sex offender Peter Voisey is now behind bars following his conviction last week at Newcastle Crown Court for raping a six year old girl from Willington Quay in my constituency.

Voisey was convicted due to the bravery of the young victim herself who provided detailed information to the police which was crucial to tracking down her attacker.  She was also an excellent witness in court even though this meant that she had to go through the details of the shocking and terrible things that happened to her.  This took great bravery and courage for someone so young after such an ordeal.

In addition two new developments were important in securing a guilty verdict.  The first was the use of DNA evidence which established a link between Voisey and the crime scene.

The second was that the jury were told of Voisey’s previous conviction for assaulting a 12 year old girl at a swimming pool five years ago.

Until recently such information would not have been made available to the jury.  I was one of those M.P.s who campaigned for the law to be changed in order to see justice done and the interests of the victim to be put first.  So I’m pleased that with strong public support we were able to push through Parliament a change in the law that means the jury can be told of relevant previous convictions.

But I have real concerns about the Voisey case.  The truth is that he shouldn’t have been able to roam freely.  He should have been under far closer monitoring and supervision.  The authorities have now launched a review into the Voisey case to see what lessons can be learnt.  But this is too late for the little girl who was raped.

In the future it must be our children who get the full protection of the law.  They depend on us and we must not fail them.