THE family of murdered schoolboy Wesley Neailey have demanded that full details of known paedophiles be made public.

The family is backing a controversial decision by a national newspaper to publish the names and photographs of convicted sex offenders.

The list, published yesterday, contains five known paedophiles previously living in anonymity in the North-East.

The list includes a couple in Blyth, Northumberland, who were given an 11-year prison sentence after watching their son rape a 16-year-old girl; a middle-aged Newcastle man jailed for a year for assaulting a teenage cerebral palsy sufferer; a Newcastle Scout leader jailed eight years ago for indecent assault, and a North Yorkshire choirmaster who molested pupils.

The controversial decision has met with widespread criticism, but was welcomed by Wesley's grandfather, Harry Hammond.

Speaking on the second anniversary of the guilty verdict for Wesley's killer, Dominic McKilligan, Mr Hammond said: "If they were named and shamed they would never be able to get in the position to abuse or murder children. I believe 110,000 paedophiles are not worth one child's life.

"Anybody that has sympathy for paedophiles wants to look at the people who have lost their kids, and look at photographs of the kids, and then say if it is worth it."

McKilligan was jailed for life for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Wesley in July 1998. He later had the rape conviction quashed on appeal.

The known psychopathic sex offender was released from Aycliffe Young People's Centre, County Durham, without the police being informed prior to him killing Wesley.

He spent three years inside the institution for a string of sex attacks on boys in Bournemouth in the early 1990s.

The Neailey family believe that had they known such an individual was living in a nearby street, Wesley's death may have been avoided.

But a senior police chief yesterday slammed the decision to publish details of sex offenders.

Gloucestershire Constabulary Chief Constable Tony Butler described the move as irresponsible, claiming it would endanger children's lives.

Mr Butler, who will head an Association of Chief Police Officers committee tasked by the Government to iron out loopholes in the Sex Offenders Register in the wake of Wesley's murder, said: "Anonymity is an essential element of the sex offenders' register and I strongly pointed out what the possible pitfalls of publication were.

"Their actions will, I believe, have the opposite effect and put children's lives at risk by driving sexual offenders underground. Past evidence suggests that the publication of such information causes serious breaches of child protection."

Gill Mackenzie, chair of the Association of Chief Officers of Probation, said many of those abusing children had no previous convictions.

She said: "If I thought for one minute that this would protect children I would be all in favour of it.

"But I have a real concern that this could deflect attention from the more likely source of abuse, normally the sort of abuse from someone unconvicted who is known to the child.

"It can lead parents to think that the only danger is from convicted known paedophiles."

The National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders condemned the move as "grossly irresponsible".

Policy director Paul Cavadino said: "It could drive these offenders underground.

"Past experience shows that when paedophiles are publicly identified in this way, some of them go to ground fearing vigilante attacks."