AN MP has called for an investigation after a convicted child sex attacker terrorised two 11-year-old girls following his early release from prison.

Samuel Cree was jailed for three years in May 2005 after being convicted of indecently assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

But he was released into the community just 13 months later and targeted the two girls, who he lured back to his house before sexually assaulting them.

The offences were committed just a month after magistrates had allowed to him to keep his freedom despite breaching the terms of release by changing his address without notifying the authorities.

The 46-year-old, of Wellington Street, Accrington, has now been jailed indefinitely after admitting breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and two counts of sexual assault on a girl under 13. He will only be let out in 2010 if the Probation Service believe he no longer poses a risk.

But Hyndburn MP Greg Pope said: "Obviously questions need to be asked as to why this person was not assessed as dangerous when he was released early.

"And I don't know why he wasn't made to complete his sentence when he broke the order. If that had happened then he wouldn't have been able to carry out his second attack."

"I am pleased he has been given an indefinite sentence. I get fed up of the bleating from human rights lobbyists - while he is in prison he won't be able to commit any more offences."

After his initial release Cree was made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, which banned him from going near girls aged 10 - 16.

When he broke the order by failing to tell police he had moved he was charged with the breach and appeared before Hyndburn magist-rates in February of last year. But he was allowed to return home and went on to attack the two youngsters on March 19.

The prison service has defended its position in releasing Cree at the half-point period of his original sentence - as he had spent time in custody before his first court appearance.

A spokesman said: "A prisoner's sentence length is calculated in such a way as to take into account any time spent on remand."

Police said that everything in their power had been done to monitor Cree once he was let out of prison.

He had initially gone to live in a bail hostel in August 2006. But when he disappeared from the address and failed to notify the authorities of his move, police quickly tracked him to his new home in Wellington Street.

When the 11-year-old girls later came forward and said they had been indecently assaulted by a man who had tried to lock them in his bathroom, police were able to act swiftly and arrested Cree.

Det Insp Jim Elston, of Lancashire Constabulary's Public Protection Unit, said: "From the day he was released he was on our radar and he was arrested when he failed to notify us of his change of address.

"Regrettably, the only way to eliminate the risk completely is to keep offenders incarcerated."

On the decision to release Cree after he had breached his Sexual Offences Prevention Order, a Judicial Communications Office spokesperson said: "All sentencing decisions in particular cases reflect the full range of evidence presented to the court in that case at that time, and a variety of other relevant factors which the court must have regard to."