Junior justice minister Fred Teeven on Tuesday criticised the NRC newspaper for publishing the address of a convicted paedophile, leading to a large demonstration outside his home.

The paper revealed at the weekend that Benno L, a swimming teacher convicted of abusing dozens of girls, had moved to Leiden. On Sunday dozens of locals gathered outside the block of flats where he lived, saying he should be moved on.

Teeven praised Leiden mayor Henri Lenferink for providing L with a place to live. ‘We always need mayors who are prepared to house sex criminals. These people have to live somewhere,’ he said.

Teeven went on to say he would not object if L lived next door to him. ‘But I don’t have small children so that is easy to say,’ the junior minister told reporters. He stressed measures have been taken to ensure children are safe and that L will be properly monitored.

Abroad

The row over the address led L’s lawyer to again call for his client to be allowed to move abroad.

‘If his presence generates such resistance, if we are so narrow-minded and intolerant, then we should also say: we have to do this differently,’ Pieter van der Kruijs told Nos radio on Monday.

L has German nationality and wants to move to Germany but that is not possible under the terms of his release from jail. Germany has not yet implemented EU rules making it possible to keep him under strict supervision, Van der Kruijs said.