London: Police have secretly removed dozens of convicted sex offenders, including paedophiles and rapists, from the Sex Offenders’ Register, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Following a human rights ruling, the law was changed last year to allow sex attackers to claim they no longer posed a threat and apply to be taken off the register.

Since then, 43 applications have been approved behind closed doors, at the rate of one every five days. About half of those who apply have been successful — including eight rapists and 27 child sex attackers.

Each case was signed off by a mid-ranking police officer following a paper review of the case. With the stroke of a pen, each convict was removed from the list, and is now free to walk the streets with no monitoring of any kind.

Those who are taken off the register no longer have to tell the police where they are living, even if they move near a school, or move in with a family with young children. Nor do they have to tell the police about any overseas travel.

Forces are refusing to name those taken off the register, citing Article 8 of the Human Rights Act — the right to a private and family life — and data protection rules. And they say it would ‘compromise the health and safety of these individuals’ to name them. Some are even refusing to give details of the offences committed, and victims are not routinely notified if their attacker has been deemed no longer a threat.

Child protection charities said the use of the law was setting back child protection, and questioned whether sex offenders could ever be reformed. Claude Knights, director of children’s charity Kidscape, said: “This step removes a number of bricks from the wall of child protection, and takes us back to the level of a number of years ago. The jury is out on whether someone who has committed these crimes can ever be cured. The worry is someone could be let off the register and commit further crimes and harm more children.”

Peter Cuthbertson, director of the Centre for Crime Prevention think-tank, said: “The Sex Offenders’ Register exists to protect the public from people who risk committing serious crimes. These decisions involve a very one-sided and backward understanding of human rights. It wrongly puts the welfare of serious sex offenders above concern for public safety.”

The Mail used the Freedom of Information Act to ask all 43 police forces in England and Wales how many sex offenders they had removed from the list between September 1, when the law came into force, and the end of March. Of the 27 who replied, there have been 91 applications and 43 sex offenders taken off the register.

One force, South Yorkshire Police, has approved all eight of its applications, including two rapists, one of whom attacked a child.

Only one force, Norfolk, said it was contacting victims to tell them what was happening.

Ministers were forced to allow the law change after a human rights ruling in 2010 which said it was a breach of criminals’ rights under Article 8 to keep them on the register without any chance of appeal.

The case was brought by two convicted sex offenders. One, Angus Thompson, was jailed for five years for violently attacking and indecently assaulting a girl. He said the “stress” of being kept indefinitely on the register had contributed to his ill health. The other was a man from Wigan who was 11 when he raped a boy of six. He said his name should be taken off because it prevented him from going on holiday.