PLANS to move sex offenders to an open jail in Gwent will make children in the area the real prisoners, a furious mother said last night.

A packed public meeting in Usk was told by prison chiefs they could not guarantee sex offenders would not escape from the nearby open Prescoed prison.

"If the plan goes ahead, the prisoners will be gaining freedom and independence and our children will become the real prisoners," said mother-of-two Heather Vaughan, aged 32, of Woodside, Usk.

And Paul Starling, the chairman of the Residents' Action Group, said the prison service must not "take risks" with women and children in the community. "The overwhelming view of the people of this town and the surrounding community is No! No! No!"

At the Memorial Hall meeting Phil Morgan, governor of Usk and Prescoed prisons, and John May, operations manager for the prison service in Wales, told residents although sex offenders eligible for transfer would be carefully screened, they could not rule out the possibility of them walking out.

Mr Morgan said: "I won't authorise any move of a prisoner if that prisoner was a risk to the community and that is why I believe the proposals are safe."

Mr May said: "The likes of Ian Huntley are not the kind of people who have the remotest chance of ending up in Prescoed.

"The sex offenders we are working with need, just like burglars and robbers, an opportunity to reintegrate slowly, progressively and carefully into the community and a move to Prescoed is intended to facilitate that." He added sending prisoners "out cold" would increase the likelihood of them reoffending.

Sex offenders would go through a treatment programme before they were moved.

The plan will go to Home Secretary David Blunkett who will have the final say on whether it is implemented.