DOCUMENTS about a child rapist due to be released in Accrington, were sent to the carers of a four-year-old foster girl in a horrific social services blunder.

Paedophile Ian Moulding was convicted of raping an eight-year-old girl in 2000, and in March he is due to be released on parole to the Highfield House hostel in Lydia Street.

The four-year-old's carers, who wanted to remain anonymous, blasted Lancashire County Council's Social Services department for mixing up the perverts' paperwork with their foster daughter's.

They said: "How on earth can this happen? We have totally lost faith in social services.

"Why is information about a convicted paedophile on the same desk as information about a little girl? Is her information being sent the other way?

"We felt sick when we read what he had done.

"His details were at the back of a report they sent us about our situation. We genuinely can't believe this has happened. It's so sloppy and dangerous."

Moulding, 52, of Wigton, Cumbria is currently held at Risley Prison in Warrington. Details of why he was caged, his address, date of birth and future release date were on the paperwork sent to the couple who live in Clayton-le-Moors.

And despite county council officers launching an investigation, the family fear it will happen again.

They said: "Social services departments are renowned for making catastrophic mistakes. They promise to make sure they aren't repeated but the same problems always recur.

"We shudder to think how many people this information has been sent to.

"On one side it's good we've found out a paedophile was going to be released in Accrington. And if we hadn't highlighted this no one would have known. But it shouldn't have been revealed in this manner."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We are extremely concerned that sensitive, confidential information has mistakenly been sent to a local family.

"We operate a strict policy to ensure all information we hold is treated confidentially. An investigation is already underway to find out what has occurred and ensure it will not happen again."

  • The mistake follows another LCC blunder when it posted out sensitive information about special needs schoolchildren to a private address in Accrington in November.

At the time an LCC spokesman said: "Steps have now been taken to ensure that this does not happen again."