TORY leader David Cameron has said the Human Rights Act is to blame for the early release of Hampshire rapist Anthony Rice.

Mr Cameron, in a speech to a London think-tank, said the lenient treatment of Rice - who went on to murder mother-of-one Naomi Bryant in Winchester - was an example of "the unintended and often perverse consequences" of the Act.

Calling for the Act to be replaced by "a modern British Bill of Rights" that balanced rights with responsibilities, he said that Rice was wrongly released on license having had his human rights put first.

His comments follow a report by chief probation inspector Andrew Bridges, published in May, which found the decision to free Rice on licence took place in a climate in which public safety was being undermined by concernfor the rights of offenders.

Mr Cameron, addressing the Centre for Policy Studies yesterday, said: "The Bridges Report set up to investigate the case makes clear that one of the factors that influenced the thinking of officials in dealing with Rice was a concern that he might sue them under the Human Rights Act.

"Of course, there were other elements in the case that had no connection to human rights. And it is true that any legal challenge by Rice might well have failed.

"But it remains the case that officials sought to protect themselves rather than risk defeat in the courts."

The Conservative leader said the Rice case illustrated a "wider trend".

He said: "Even without actual litigation, some public bodies are now so frightened of being sued under the Human Rights Act that they try to protect themselves by making decisions that are often absurd and occasionally dangerous."

Mr Cameron added: "There are a wide range of areas in which the Human Rights Act has made the fight against crime harder."

The Human Rights Act, which came into force in 2000, incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law.

It meant individuals no longer had to take their cases to the European courtof Human Rights in Strasbourg - a complex and time-consuming process.

Mr Cameron said rather than simply abolishing the Human Rights Act and pulling out of the European Convention - which would mean "taking a stepbackwards on rights and liberties" - he would, if elected, introduce a US-style Bill of Rights "to strike a common-sense balance between civilliberties and the protection of public security".

Following the publication of the Bridges report, Prime Minister Tony Blair asked Home Secretary John Reid to improve the management of offenders to ensure the criminal justice system was "shaped around targeting the offenderand not just the offence, in order to enhance public protection and ensurethat the law-abiding majority can live without fear".