NEARLY 700 sex offenders in Dorset are being monitored by a group set up to protect the public from dangerous criminals.

The Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement (Mappa) brings together the police, probation and prison services and local authorities to prevent reoffending.

Information is shared between the agencies in an effort to protect communities from murderers, rapists, and other violent and sex offenders who have been released from jail.

A report released by the Ministry of Justice showed that on March 31 Mappa was monitoring 666 sexual offenders in the Dorset area.

Of these 21 were cautioned or convicted, 62 had a sex offender prevention order imposed and a further two were handed a notification order.

The report also reveals that just three of these offenders breached their licence and only one violent offender was arrested for a further serious offence.

According to the report there has been a five per cent increase on the number of sexual offenders on the group’s radar in the past year.

Part of this increase is owing to improvements in how police record sex crimes and also the introduction of new offences such as voyeurism and revenge porn.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "Mappa manage some of the highest risk offenders once they have served their prison sentence.

"Serious further offences are rare but each one is taken extremely seriously and investigated to make sure the right lessons are learned.

"A recent report by the independent Probation and Police Inspectorates found improvements had been made to Mappa over the last four years."