A FORMER Malvern man has been removed from a youth radio project after it emerged he was a child sex offender.

Nigel Edwards was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in 1997 for three sexual assaults on a 14-year-old local boy.

An experienced radio broadcaster and journalist, Edwards has been freelancing for Inverse Communications, which has been running youth radio projects in Sussex.

This week, he was working for a project at Grimsby in Humberside, when his past emerged. The project was suspended.

The ability of convicted sex offenders to subsequently work with children has been an issue of national concern since the Soham murders.

Vetting procedures have been tightened up since Ian Huntley, who had faced accusations of sexual assaults against children, was able to find work in a school in Soham. He went on to murder ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Edwards' name is not on a sexual offenders' register, as it did not exist at the time of his conviction in 1997.

Inverse says Edwards was involved in marketing and managing press and publicity and has now ceased these duties.

"At no point, on any project, has Mr Edwards been unsupervised with young people," said the company, in a statement.

It said it did not commission a Criminal Records Bureau check because of the nature of his work but will now CRB check all new and existing staff.

Edwards was a broadcaster with BBC Hereford and Worcester when the offences took place in 1992. His victim did not come forward until 1996 and Edwards was charged with two counts of a serious sexual assault and one of indecent assault.

A former lay member of the General Synod, Edwards was said to have befriended the teenager when they sang in the same choir together. The offences took place at Edwards' then home in Redland Road, Malvern.

He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years by Judge David Matthews at Hereford Crown Court.

In a separate case in 1994, he was sentenced to two years' probation for indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy and also ordered to attend a sex offenders' therapy course.