Police forces are facing calls to be more robust in testing whether offenders are safe to be living within the community

Three quarters of sex attackers who ask to be taken off a register created to keep tabs on them have their details removed by police, official data suggests.

Figures from 36 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales show that only 363 of 1,288 applications from offenders sentenced to more than 30 months who claimed to be no longer a risk were refused in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Chief Constable Michelle Skeer of the National Police Chiefs’ Council said that the figures, released to the Daily Mail under freedom of information laws, were a small proportion of registered sex offenders managed in the community.

Only one of the 39 applications made to Merseyside police was refused. The force said applications to be removed