A CHILD rapist living in Worcester has lost his case claiming lie detection tests invaded his privacy.

Raymond Corbett, aged 60, who is living at an “approved address” in the city, was released in April from a nine-year sentence for a catalogue of horrific sex crimes against two young girls, but was told he would have to submit to polygraph testing.

Corbett, formerly of Lansdowne Road, was convicted of two rape and two indecent assault charges at Worcester Crown Court in May 2003.

In a High Court test case he argued that subjecting him to polygraph testing invaded his privacy and smacks of “delving into a man’s mind”.

But top judges said the use of lie detection techniques on released sex offenders was not a violation of human rights. Lord Justice Pill ruled yesterday that compulsory testing is a “justified and proportionate” means of protecting the public and discouraging sex criminals from returning to their ways.

The ruling means the Ministry of Justice can press ahead with a three-year pilot scheme in nine police areas, including West Mercia, where freed high risk sex offenders will have to take the tests as part of their early release licence conditions. Sentencing Corbett, formerly of Malvern, in 2003 Judge Michael Mott said: “Many right-thinking people might consider that no sentence was long enough for somebody who did what you did... it almost beggars belief”.

Corbett’s barrister, John Traversi, argued at the High Court that forcing him to undergo polygraph testing amounted to a violation of his right to private and family life, protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Stating Corbett’s crimes were committed more than 25 years ago – and he had done nothing wrong since – Mr Traversi attacked polygraph testing as “a not entirely reliable exercise in delving into a man’s mind”.

However, dismissing Corbett’s challenge, Lord Justice Pill said polygraph testing was just one of 13 conditions attached to his early release licence and failure to pass the test would not, by itself, be enough to justify recalling him to prison.

Ruling that mandatory lie detection is “in accordance with the law and in the public interest,” he said it is seen by the Department of Justice as a useful deterrent and “risk management tool”.

Although polygraph testing is “not entirely reliable” – and test results cannot be used as evidence in a criminal trial – he said it will be used to detect “risky behaviour” by sex offenders at an early stage, before the public can be harmed.

Rejecting arguments that polygraph testing is “disproportionate” for Corbett, the judge said probation reports indicated that he had shown a “lack of engagement” with prison sex offender treatment programmes.

Although he accepted responsibility for his crimes when in prison, the judge said it has been reported he has been denying them again since his release and now claims that he only made his earlier admissions in the hope of winning parole.