New legislation is being considered by the government to protect children from paedophiles who try to contact them in person, on the phone or via the internet.

The proposals would prevent sex offenders making contact with children to exploit them.

It follows the disappearance of 10-year-old Cambridgeshire schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, whom police believe have been abducted.

Once contact is made in a chatroom, it escalates very quickly to a mobile phone, text messaging and eventually, face-to-face contact

Chris Atkinson, NSPCC

It is known the girls were using the internet an hour before they went missing.

Police have revealed that a computer used by the girls contains a "wealth of information", but it is now known they had not been in a chatroom shortly before they disappeared.

The increasing use of internet chatrooms has led to paedophiles going online to "groom" or build up a relationship with children with a view to meeting them in person.

Chris Atkinson from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said: "Modern technology means once contact is made in a chat room, it escalates very quickly to a mobile phone, text messaging and eventually, face-to-face contact.

Sexual Offences Bill

"This is why we need the government proposals."

Home Secretary David Blunkett has acknowledged that legislation is needed in the next session of parliament and it is expected that a Sexual Offences Bill will be included in the Queen's Speech.

The government has long been concerned about the growing threat of internet paedophiles who target children via the net.

The Home Office said it is looking at a range of measures to tackle paedophiles who use the internet to groom youngsters.

This would make it illegal to contact children with "harmful intent".

'Catch-all' offence

Such laws would also cover telephone calls, text messaging and attempting to befriend youngsters outside school gates.

A new paedophile "catch-all" offence could be introduced to simplify the law and replace seven separate offences.

There would also be a new civil protection order aimed at preventing sex offenders contacting particular children.

Breach of an order would carry a jail term of up to five years.

A government task force on child protection on the internet, originally set up in March last year, is due to present its recommendations to ministers after MPs return to Westminster in the autumn.

Holly and Jessica had used the internet

John Carr, a policy adviser to the National Children's Society who sat on that task force, said the powers currently available to the police were inadequate to prevent paedophiles making contact with children.

However, he warned that any new legislation must strike a balance with civil liberties.

"We want to strengthen the position of the police to take action," he told The Times.

"We certainly don't want to criminalise someone going through a mid-life crisis and using the internet to pretend he is 20 years younger."