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Pleasted had decades of child sex convictions. But because he changed his name, the criminal records database showed him as “clean”. In a BBC documentary, Killing My Children’s Abuser, Sarah, 39, says: “Still, to this day, there are no words to describe how it eats you up from the inside. He ripped my family apart.

“I bring life into the world. It never occurred to me that I would be guilty of taking life out of the world.”

Sarah was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter after stabbing Pleasted at his home in Canning Town, east London.

At her trial, it emerged Pleasted had 24 child sex convictions from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. But the crimes predated the sex offenders register and authorities lost contact with him after he changed his name.

Sarah’s sons, Bradley, now 20, and twins Alfie and Reece, 19, waived their right to lifelong anonymity to support their mother’s campaign for tougher laws.

All three tell the documentary, available on BBC iPlayer, that they felt safer after Sarah killed Pleasted.

Bradley says: “I thought, ‘Hats off…I’m not going to deny it’.”

Reece says: “It was nice knowing that he was dead, but it didn’t stop any afterthoughts.

“We would often wake up crying and say, ‘Where’s Mum?’.”

Alfie adds: “It didn’t slow down the nightmares. But it did give us a sense of security because you didn’t have to walk down the street thinking he was going to come around the corner.” Sarah’s campaign to plug the loophole where paedophiles change their names is backed by Labour MP Sarah Champion.

Ms Champion said: “They are able to get a new driving licence and passport in that name. That enables them to get a new DBS [Disclosure and Barring Service] check.

“We are finding that these people are then going into schools and other places where there are children and vulnerable people and exploiting their positions of trust in the most horrific ways.”

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