By Jon Silverman Home affairs analyst

New computer software will make it easier to trace dangerous sex offenders. Had it been up and running earlier, it may have hastened the hunt for Sarah Payne's killer. When eight-year-old Sarah Payne went missing near her home in Sussex in July 2000, the county police force launched one of the biggest investigations in its history.

Fearing that the case might be an abduction and/or sex murder, detectives contacted every force in the country for urgent information about possible suspects.

Sarah's killer had a previous kidnap conviction

It was an appeal which didn't get them very far. Some forces said they had filing cabinets full of paper documents which would take days to wade through. Others didn't keep such information at all.

And bear in mind that this was three years after the Sex Offenders Register came into existence, supposedly as an essential tool in tracking dangerous criminals. Only one force was able to deliver the high-quality help which Sussex desperately needed.

Lancashire police had already developed a computerised database of violent and sex offenders, which carried not merely names but up-to-date digital photos; the complete criminal history of the offender; his methods of operating; and current risk assessment. Using this, Lancashire officers identified eight possible suspects and interviewed and eliminated them from the Sussex inquiry within two hours of the request.

This piece of software is the basis for a system called ViSOR (Violent Sex Offender Register) which may be one of the biggest advances in public protection for a generation when it is rolled out in England and Wales next year.

Fall through cracks

One of the government's claims is to have created a "joined-up" criminal justice system. True, big organisational changes have brought police, probation and the Crown Prosecution Service much closer together.

But there are still glaring gaps. The police and probation services don't have joint IT systems, so information-sharing is often slow and haphazard.

Sarah's mother campaigns for better information

When an offender is jailed, the prison receives no information other than the court sentence. And when he is released into the community, the police are given no access to intelligence gleaned by prison officers on whether he might be a danger to others.

When a sex offender moves from one area to another, the probation service puts out a warning bulletin but the police are not automatically notified.

Helen Elliott, a senior probation officer for the London area, explains the problems: "At the moment, information on offenders is held on the Police National Computer but we don't have access to it.

"So in order to do our job, we have to pester our police colleagues to get it. And a warning bulletin about a dangerous offender is compiled differently in different areas. There is no standardisation."

'Shut it!'

How might ViSOR help? The Police National Computer merely tells you an offender's name, last known address and the crimes for which he or she has been convicted. It doesn't even say whether they are on the Sex Offenders Register.

If a rapist is in the habit of shouting 'shut it, slag' that can go in the database

But ViSOR has the capacity and elasticity to provide detectives with information which can alter the course of an inquiry. For example, if a paedophile has used a red van to abduct a child but then switched to a white one, ViSOR can call up that information.

If a rapist is in the habit of shouting "shut it, slag" when attacking a victim - this is a real example - that, too, can be retained in the database. Many sex offenders change their appearance when they are about to commit another crime. The software allows numerous images to be retrieved and compared.

By spring 2004, it is expected that every police force and probation area in England and Wales will be using ViSOR. And other agencies such as the prison service, HM Customs, even social services, are casting envious eyes and will no doubt make a claim to be included at a later date.

Given that around 25,000 people have been convicted of offences of violence since Sarah Payne was murdered, it is an advance which is long overdue.

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