WORRIED parents living near a secure mental health unit from which paedophile rapist Patrick Cash escaped 11 days ago have spoken of their fears.

Homeowners living yards from Clare House, in Burnt Mills Road, Bowers Gifford, say they had no idea convicted sex offenders were housed there and are now afraid to let their children out.

Cash, 35, who raped two 12-year-old boys, was last seen getting on a train from Basildon to London's Fenchurch Street at 10.30am on Saturday, June 16.

A 35-year-old mum-of-one, who asked not to be named, said: "I didn't even know people like that were staying at Clare House. I thought it was for people who have had breakdowns.

"It's terrible. It makes me feel really nervous. I've just had a baby but I would be very nervous about letting my children out."

Another mother, said: "People like that shouldn't be allowed out, never mind into the community to go shopping, where they could easily prey on another child. When Clare House was built, we all thought it would be some sort of residential home.

"We never dreamed it would house paedophiles."

Cash was convicted at Northampton Crown Court, of raping two schoolboys in 1995 and branded a "serious risk to the public" by the judge.

He went missing from the secure unit after he was allowed out to go shopping 11 days ago.

Tory MP John Baron, in whose constituency the unit is sited, said Cash's escape had "all the hallmarks of another Rory Griffin".

Griffin, a convicted rapist, was staying at the Felmores bail hostel when he struck again in May last year, raping a woman in nearby Northlands Park.

Mr Baron said Cash's disappearance raised serious questions about the monitoring of sex offenders.

He said: "Here we have somebody who has been through the legal system and has been branded a serious risk, yet he is allowed out to go shopping.

"There is something wrong with the system and we need to re-examine how we deal with sex offenders.

"I personally believe sex offenders should be housed in more remote locations, which makes monitoring them easier and keeps them away from mothers and children."

The Tory MP also criticised police, who took five days to warn the public about Cash's disppearance.

He added: "I think it would have been wise to have given the public more notice in this case.

"Firstly, because the public would have know to take care and secondly, because there may have been an outside chance that he could have been identified."

Bosses at Clare House today defended their decision to allow Cash out on a shopping trip.

Kevin Newman, marketing and service development manager at St Andrew's Healthcare, said moving inmates into a "community placement", which allowed them out in public, was an essential part of their rehabilitation.

He added: "Community placement involves access to community facilities for individuals who have been assessed by our qualified professional teams as not presenting a risk to themselves or the wider public.

"We would like to reassure the public that Clare House carefully considers all these decisions and that the public has not been exposed to any undue risk."