A DAD is facing the nightmare that his children will soon have a convicted paedophile as a step-father - and there’s nothing he can do about it.

Convicted child sex abuser Alex Taylor is soon to marry the ex-wife of the worried dad.

The father says he is concerned for three of his children who live with his ex.

“It makes me sick to the stomach,” he said, “I feel let down and I can’t believe it. I don’t feel they are safe.”

Taylor was convicted of abusing and grooming a 14-year-old girl in 2011. He used internet chatrooms to groom the girl before having sex with her on multiple occasions.

He was arrested as part of a police sting to catch online sex offenders when he believed he was meeting a second teenager — but it was an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Taylor, who then lived in Chapman Street, Bolton, was sentenced to seven years in jail with an extended licence of eight years. He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

At the time, Det Cons Laura Dixon, from Greater Manchester’s sexual crime unit, said: “Taylor’s propensity for young girls is clear. Having already used the internet to groom and then have sex with a girl he knew full well was underage, he continued to use these chat rooms and was prepared to travel to meet what he thought was another 14-year-old girl.”

He was released on licence in 2014. There is no suggestion he has committed any further offences since his release.

But today, a dad described his horror at discovering the news of his ex-wife’s new partner.

He said: “Her friend called me up and said ‘do you know she is with a convicted paedophile?’

“At the time I didn’t believe her. I only believed it when my son told me. He asked me if I knew his mum was with someone who abused kids. It made me feel sick to my stomach.”

The children were subject to a child protection plan but were removed from the register by Bolton Children’s Services earlier this year.

A spokesman for Bolton Council explained that they had reached a point where the plan was no longer necessary.

He said: “The decision to remove a child protection plan is made in consultation with other agencies and is only taken when it is agreed that a child is no longer at risk of serious harm.”

The council spokesman said: “We act on any information from any source to protect children who may be at risk from abuse or harm. The child protection system operates on a multi-agency arrangement to ensure information is shared between partner organisations so we can identify perpetrators and prevent harm.”

Under the terms of his release, it is believed Taylor cannot spend a night at his girlfriend’s house when there are children present, according to the dad.

The Bolton News understands that Taylor has to meet his probation officer regularly and has to vouch that he is keeping the terms of his licence.

When he marries his bride, the pair will only be able to be in the presence of the children if there is another adult present, it is understood.

The Bolton News has spoken to the mother who declined to comment.

The dad says he hopes his children will be able to live with him in future. He said: “It is worrying. My hope is I can get a bigger house and they will come and live with me. I miss them. I would call myself a good dad. I love my children.”

The dad says he asked social services workers “if they would be happy about it if it was their children.”

He said: “They are my children at the end of the day. I’m trying to protect them and protect their welfare.

“I feel really let down. I never imagined something like this would happen. I never thought I would be treated in this way.”

A HM Prison and Probation Service spokesman said: “Our priority is to protect the public and the risk posed by sex offenders is robustly assessed before they are released on licence.

“They are monitored closely and made to follow a strict set of conditions, which if breached could see them go back to prison.”

The spokesman stressed that the office did not comment on individuals. She underlined Bolton Council’s point that sex offenders are supervised by Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and a range of legislative measures are also available to the police via the sex offenders’ register.

They can expect to receive unscheduled visits from police officers.