The South Wales Argus has launched a campaign calling for a public inquiry into the level of monitoring of convicted sex offender Craig Sweeney, who was recently jailed for abducting and assaulting a three-year-old girl.

Sweeney was living in a flat in Newport after being released on licence from jail for a previous sex attack on a six-year-old girl when he committed the assault on the child.

And now The Argus wants to know how the known paedophile was able to kidnap the girl from Cardiff, take her back to his home in Newport, show her off to other sex offenders in the same block of flats and then drive off with her to Swindon before being caught.

Argus editor Gerry Keighley said: “We have tried but failed to find out how Craig Sweeney was being monitored, by whom, how often and exactly what form that monitoring took.

“The whole issue is now being shrouded in secrecy, but what is obvious is that there has been a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line.”