A POLICE force has spent more than �9,000 on radio adverts in a bid to improve child protection by helping parents identify a paedophile. The two 40-second adverts have been developed by Cambridgeshire police and will be played on Heart FM for a four-week

A POLICE force has spent more than �9,000 on radio adverts in a bid to improve child protection by helping parents identify a paedophile.

The two 40-second adverts have been developed by Cambridgeshire police and will be played on Heart FM for a four-week period from June 22.

It is part of the Child Sex Offender Disclosure pilot, a Home Office scheme aimed at encouraging people to check if suspicious adults living in the neighbourhood are sex offenders.

In one of the adverts, a woman's voice can be heard saying: "There's something not quite right about my sister's new partner."

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police said similar adverts used in Hampshire had proved to be successful.

"Where before we relied on newspaper coverage to make people aware of this service we thought we would try another means of getting the message across by launching radio adverts."

The scheme, also known as Keeping Children Safe, is a six-month initiative which was launched in Cambridgeshire in March. It is a response to the Sarah's Law campaign that followed the murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne by a convicted paedophile.

As part of the pilot parents are able to ask police to run checks for paedophile convictions on anyone given access to their children.

Single mothers are able to have potential boyfriend's checked or family members who regularly look after children.

Speaking at the launch of the pilot earlier this year, Detective Superintendent John Raine said: "This scheme allows parents, carers and guardians the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have about individuals who have access to their child and seek information about them.

"If disclosing information will increase the level of protection for a child, we will share information with the child's main carer."

INFORMATION: The Keeping Children Safe team can be contacted on 0345 4564564.