Legislation governing charities has been branded inadequate by Essex County Council chiefs, following the conviction of Dream Team co-founder, Paul Dean, for attempted abduction.

Mike Leadbetter, the county council's director of social services, called for tighter controls in the wake of Paul Dean's imprisonment.

Dean was found guilty of attempting to abduct a four-year-old boy from an east London housing estate and sentenced to five years.

Mr Leadbetter said: "This was a tragic and, I am afraid, inevitable consequence of the current inadequate legislation.

"Adults who have significant unsupervised contact with children must be police-checked.

"However, this leaves a large number of adults who have contact with children and are in positions of trust, such as Paul Dean, not subject to mandatory police checks."

Mr Leadbetter added that he became so concerned about the issue in 1997, he co-wrote a book with the then director of Brent social services, called Enough is Enough.

He continued: "We commented that any and all caring organisations are potentially at risk.

"The understanding of risk must be embedded within the culture of the organisations. It is only with this increased awareness that proper safeguards can be fully consistent and competently implemented.

"My worry is that as local authorities become even more rigorous in vetting and monitoring people working with children, individuals intent on abuse will gravitate to voluntary organisations both in the UK and overseas and also to adult services where no police checks are required."

The mother of a terminally ill boy helped by the Dream Team, said she hoped the charity would not fold as the result of Paul Dean's imprisonment.

Jay Theobald and his family went on a holiday of a lifetime to Spain in May so he could visit his maternal grandparents. Jay, from Colchester, suffers from degenerative infantile Battens disease.

The Southend-based Dream Team stepped in to help make the much wished-for holiday a reality.

Jay's mum Fran, said: "Paul was the original one to speak to me. He was chatty, very nice. I couldn't knock him. I'm gobsmacked.

"I hope the charity doesn't fold, because without it my little boy would have had nothing."

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