Published: Monday, 19th July, 2010 2:00pm

23 sex offenders in Inverclyde

SHOCK figures have revealed 23 registered sex offenders are living in Inverclyde.

Statistics released to the Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act confirmed 23 people with court convictions placing them on the Sex Offenders' Register were living in the area.

The figure is based on information from Strathclyde Police's database, and was given as the number of offenders living in Inverclyde as at 18 May.

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said they could not confirm if the number had risen or fallen since the middle of May 'because the information is subject to change as further offenders are required to register and registration periods of persons already registered, terminate'.

We asked for the information to be broken down into towns, gender, age and nature of offence, but this was declined by police for fear of identifying offenders and contravening strict Data Protection Act laws guarding people's personal information.

A police spokeswoman said releasing further information could lead to communities 'outing' registered sex offenders (RSO) - causing them to go underground and disappear from the authorities monitoring them.

She added: "If such information was disclosed, this could lead to communities identifying offenders, which could lead to their physical harm.

"An RSO, like any other individual, expects their data to be treated confidentially.

"If this information was disclosed, the trust would be broken between the RSO and the police, which then makes it more difficult for the police to ensure they comply with the terms of their registration.

"Without the appropriate supervision and assessment, there would be a greater risk of these individuals re-offending.

"If we disclose there is an offender in an area, then this puts these individuals at greater risk, as the community are likely to speculate and target individuals who have recently moved in to the area.

"This can lead to mis-identification of individuals and innocent persons being targeted, which could result in the physical harm of the individual.

"It is not merely a case of a possibility that this would occur, it is fact, as police forces throughout the UK can evidence."