Relatives of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne have welcomed moves to recruit members of the public to monitor paedophiles.

Sarah's grandfather Terry, who lives in Kingston Gorse, near Littlehampton, said: "This is good news and a step in the right direction to protect the public from these people."

Mr Payne, however, said the campaign would continue for "Sarah's Law", allowing residents to examine registers of sex offenders in their communities and to know their whereabouts.

The Home Office said it wanted ordinary people to advise professional public protection panels tracking the worst sexual and violent offenders.

Home Secretary David Blunkett first suggested the idea in 2000 after Sarah was kidnapped near her grandparents' home and murdered.

Her killer, Roy Whiting, was later jailed for life.

He had previously offended against a young girl and would have been included on a Sarah's Law register.

Sarah's mother, Sara, said if she had known he lived in the area she would not have let her daughter play outside.

She would still campaign for the public to have access to the registers so they would know if any were living in their communities.

The monitoring idea was tried in eight areas last year and now 84 people are being recruited to join panels across England.

The worst violent and sex offenders are now tracked after their release from prison by specialist multi-agency public protection panels.

The idea of adding members of the public to the panels is partly to reassure local communities and head off vigilantism against paedophiles.

The advisers will be trained but will not be expected to become experts or have contact with offenders.

Unpaid and expected to attend four meetings a year, they will not make decisions about what happens to offenders but will be able to question what is done in their area and why.

The advisors will deal with offenders who pose a high risk of causing serious harm or whose management is proving difficult or particularly sensitive.

They will also have a part to play in reviews of cases.

National Probation Service director general Steve Murphy said: "It's better to have a system in place where you're monitoring and people don't go underground."

Home Office minister Paul Goggins said: "Managing high-risk sexual and violent offenders in the community will always need professional and sensitive handling.

"Multi-agency public protection arrangements have already proved to be a tremendous success and we believe this is another important step in ensuring the best possible management of these types of offenders."

Advertisements for lay advisers will start to appear in the local Press in the South-East from July.

Earlier this year, a report published in the Journal of Legal and Criminal Psychology showed that sex offenders tended to remain a danger for years.

A 21-year study showed a quarter of the 419 men released from prison in 1979 were convicted of further sexual offences.