One of the country's most notorious paedophiles could be heading for Oxford.

Lennie Smith preyed on young boys and was involved in the death of at least five. He has served two-thirds of a ten-year sentence imposed in 1992 for a series of sordid sex attacks on a six-year-old boy.

But in just ten weeks time, Smith will walk free from Wakefield jail and it is feared he could return to Oxford where he earned a living as a rent boy in the 1970s.

Det Chief Supt Roger Stoodley, who interrogated Smith over the sex attacks for which he was jailed, said: "Where he goes people will die. I've never met anyone so completely devoid of compassion. God help anywhere he goes back to." Thames Valley Police spokesman Richard Goodfellow said: "He can live where he chooses but, although a firm decision has not yet been taken, early indications point to his return to somewhere in London."

After spending his childhood in London and Southend, Smith worked as a rent boy in Oxford and Birmingham, before settling in Hackney in London.

Smith is supected of being closely involved in the deaths of five children, including seven-year-old Mark Tildesley.

Thames Valley Police were involved in the hunt for the child and the case was reopened in 1990 when links were found with other attacks.

Smith, now 44, and HIV positive, was one of the paedopohile ring who abused and killed Tildesley after taking him from a funfair in Wokingham, Berkshire, on June 1 1984. The child's body was never found.

Former MP and football pundit David Mellor described Smith as "evil".

Story date: Monday 12 April

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