THE sentence comes as eight sex offenders – including six paedophiles – have been confirmed as missing by Dorset Police.

Four of the missing men are considered to pose a high risk of re-offending, two are classed as medium risk and two others as low risk.

It is believed six of the eight, none of whom have been named, have fled abroad while the other two are in hiding somewhere in the UK.

Dorset Police said they believed sex offenders could go missing because of concern over being exposed to vigilantes. A spokesman added they they also vanish because they do not want to comply with restrictions or they intend to re-offend.

He added that the force relied on offenders to inform them of their details and without that information it is difficult to locate them.

Campaigner Christine Beddoe, director of child protection charity Ecpat UK, said she was shocked at the overall figures.

She said: “It is actually very easy for a sex offender to go abroad. They can simply buy a ticket and they can go.

“It’s not good enough just to know where they are, we’ve got to do something about it to stop them abusing children abroad.”

Dorset Police work through Mappa (multi-agency public protection arrangements), which supports the management of the most serious sexual and violent offenders.