PAEDOPHILES were moved out of a Blackburn bail hostel just hours after an order by the Home Secretary.

Haworth House is just metres away from a children's day nursery.

The move, believed to involve around half a dozen offenders, was ordered by Home Secretary John Reid as part of a national ban on child sex offenders being housed close to schools.

And it came just two weeks after the Evening Telegraph revealed that the Smiles on Faces child care centre was allowed to open next to Haworth house bail hostel in St Peter's Street without any consultation with the Probation Service.

Owner Ann Wainwright set up the business after being told of four possible sites by Blackburn with Darwen Council but the probation service said it would have raised serious concerns if it had been consulted.

Two weeks ago Blackburn with Darwen council bosses said the responsibility of choosing an appropriate site for a children's centre was that of the nursery owner rather than the council.

Home Office officials today confirmed that all the child sex attackers that were living at Haworth house, which is within a mile of three schools, were moved yesterday.

A Home office spokesperson said that following the Home Secretary orders at the weekend that convicted child sex attackers must be moved from 11 bail hostels across the UK that were close to schools, action had been taken as a matter of urgency.

A total of 70 offenders from the 11 hostels across the UK were transferred to hostels that were located at more suitable sites away from children's centres and schools.

The spokesperson said: "While we cannot go into the exact details of where these offenders have been moved to we can confirm that they were moved immediately following John Reid's orders."

Only this month a man who has sexual fantasies about murder, rape and street attacks was ordered to live at Haworth House bail hostel under a two year community supervision order and is one of the offenders who is believed to have been moved yesterday.

Paul Swift, 24, of Accrington, who was banned from having unsupervised contact with children under 16 was described by Judge Christopher Cornwall as posing a "significant risk of serious harm to others" as he had "dreadful sexual fantasies involving violent sexual conduct, seemingly with boys, girls and young men."

Last October a paedophile described as of "ultra-high risk to children" went on the run from Haworth House after being released there on licence.

Michael Andrew Wilson was re-arrested in Kirkham.

Greg Pope said: "The government has taken the lead here and I expect all responsible local authorities to follow suit and ensure wherever possible children's centres or schools are not sited close to bail hostels.

"They must also endeavour to make sure that only suitable sites are suggested when children's centres are looking for somewhere to operate from."

Coun Kay said: "It is not up to the council to decide these things. The onus is on the business to take advice from the risk assessments by their own advisors. Smiles on Faces is a very closed facility and so we felt it is a very safe operation."

Earlier this month the Probation Service in Lancashire said that the child sex offenders at Haworth House posed no risk to the children at Smiles on Faces. Their spokesperson Anne Mathews today said she would not reveal how many paedophile and sex offenders had been housed in the hostel. She also refused to say where these offenders had now been placed.