A PAEDOPHILE is demanding compensation from Durham Police and the probation service - for being forced to move home twice.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims he was "pushed from pillar to post" by the threat of his sordid past being exposed.

He is pursuing a claim under the Human Rights Act for all the "expense and misery" he endured while moving from two County Durham addresses.

His claim has been branded as "sick" by paedophile victims, who are calling for criminals to stop getting access to legal aid to sue.

Samantha Wilson, 20, of Stockon, who suffered years of abuse at the hands of a paedophile, said: "It is absolutely disgusting what he's doing. If my abuser did something like that, it would sicken me to think he had the nerve."

The man, from County Durham, applied this week to the High Court in London for a judicial review of the police and probation services' decision to move him.

He accused police of making him move by informing his landlord of his past sexual depravity, which has been strongly refuted by Durham Constabulary.

The man's criminal record includes rape of young girls, numerous indecent assaults and possession of indecent photographs of children.

He moved into a house in County Durham last autumn when he was released from jail.

But it was decided he could not stay there because he was close to a local junior school and next to a family with young children.

He moved to a hotel before a second home was found. It was then that the man claimed the police told his landlord about his criminal past, and he was forced to move for a third time.

Mr Justice Harrison threw out his request for a judicial review and said it had "no reasonable prospect of success".

But his counsel, Flo Krause, told the court he would be pursuing a compensation claim.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Scott, head of CID at Durham Constabulary, said: "We are happy with the outcome of the application in the High Court. Any further action will be rigorously defended."