VICTIMS of sex abuse have welcomed news that Sarah’s Law is to be introduced in Dorset.

The new scheme will allow worried county parents to check whether people with access to their youngsters are child sex offenders.

It was dubbed Sarah’s Law following the murder of Sarah Payne, eight, by convicted paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000.

The Child Sex Offenders Disclosure Scheme has been given the go-ahead in Dorset this summer following a successful trial in the UK.

During the £600,000 year-long pilot, 315 applications resulted in 21 paedophiles being identified – protecting 60 youngsters in the process.

Victims in Dorset said they were delighted that Sarah’s Law was on its way to the county.

A woman who was raped at the age of 12 by a family friend said she would welcome the widespread introduction of Sarah’s Law.

Bette Balfour, now aged 50, waived her right to anonymity in the Echo when her attacker, Raymond Hewlett, was linked to the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann in Portugal.

She was just 12 years old when she was lured into family friend and neighbour Hewlett’s car before he drove her to nearby moors and raped her. She believes if people had more information about potential abusers then more children could be saved from similar horrific ordeals.

She said: “I was 12 years old and on my way to school when Raymond pulled up in his car.

“I knew him because he lived next door to us.”

Evil Hewlett then stuffed a rag soaked in paint thinner in her mouth before he drove her to the deserted moor and raped her.

Bette has since had three failed marriages and has lived in different places throughout her life, moving to Weymouth with her brother Roy after a short spell in Blackpool.

Hewlett served 12 months of an 18-month sentence for the assault in 1972.

In 1978 he attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl and was jailed again for four years.

Then in 1988 he was jailed for six years for abducting a 14-year-old Cheshire schoolgirl.

Bette said: “I’m still looking over my shoulder because when he did it he said if I told anybody he would hunt me down and do a proper job.”

She is also urging victims of sexual assault to report crimes to the police.

She said: “They need punishing for the crimes don’t they? A lot of them don’t get it. It’s even more important when children are involved.”

The mother of a 14-year-old girl raped by David Michael Charles Adams in a Bovington play park welcomed the news.

Adams, formerly of Magnolia Close, Weymouth, was given seven years in jail and ordered to remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life in April, 2009.

The mother, who cannot be named, said: “I think this is great news. This scheme is going to be brilliant for single parents with kids who are unsure over new partners and so on. At least now they can check.

“I’m not sure it goes quite far enough though. We should know everything about these paedophiles, including where they live.

“But this is a really good start. It would have been great if the pilot had protected just one child, but the fact it’s protected 60 is fantastic.

“Hopefully, it will help protect a lot more in Dorset in the future. You just don’t know who your young daughters are going out with any more.

“There are so many dangers out there, the world’s changed so much.

“Let’s just hope this new rule in Dorset will stop someone else having to go through what we have.”