NORMALLY, it’s the convicted criminal who gets locked up to protect the rest of society.

But in the British county of Devon, authorities have done the reverse, forcing two young sisters to be imprisoned in their bedroom each night to enable their new stepdad, a convicted paedophile, to live with their mum.

The mother wed the man, a former childhood sweetheart, after her 25-year marriage to the girls’ biological father fell apart.

The man was jailed for attacking a girl under the age of 13 and is banned from unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16.

Despite this, his lover successfully applied to become an “approved person”, giving her the authority to supervise him in the company of her daughters.

The pair married less than a year later but a review of the man by the Devon County Council’s child services division found there was a “continuing risk” that he would go on to abuse the sisters.

It subsequently refused an application for him to “stay overnight occasionally” with his new wife and stepdaughters. Incredibly, councillors voted to reverse that decision after the mother installed a lock and alarm on the girls’ bedroom door.

According to the Daily Mirror, councillors were further reassured after being told that the stepdad would have to climb over his wife from his side of the bed to reach the girls’ bedroom, waking her up in the process.

The sisters have been given a baby monitor to alert their mother if they need to be released to use the toilet.

Their unbelievable predicament has infuriated and distressed their real father, who is demanding the council overturn its decision.

“Who in their right mind lets a paedophile live with children?” He said in an interview with the Mirror.

“We were stunned by that decision. Who is to say that they are sticking to this supposed safety setup? There is no-one from social services monitoring it. Where are the children when their mother is having a shower or a bath?

“The whole thing is just a shambles.”

The father said it was impossible for his children to have a normal upbringing with their personal safety and future friendships under threat.

“Sooner or later the kids are going to say ‘Mum, I want my friend to stay round’. Are they going to explain this to the other kid’s parents?’”, he told the Mirror.

“I said to her when they got together ‘of all the people on the planet you go and pick someone who is convicted of that!’

“The only solution is that they must make him move out.”