A CHILD molester who has volunteered to be surgically castrated in return for having a 30-year jail sentence cut by a third, has become the centre of a fierce legal battle in Arkansas in a test case over using surgery to "cure" sex offenders.

James Stanley's attempt to become the first prisoner in modern America to be physically, rather than chemically, castrated is being challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, which fears that it could open the way for other offenders to be coerced into having surgery in return for lighter sentences.

The criminal justice system in America cannot impose surgical castration on rapists or child molesters because it is deemed "cruel and unusual" punishment outlawed by the constitution.

But Stanley, 47, entered into a plea bargain with prosecutors, volunteering to have his testicles removed in return for a 10-year sentence reduction when he pleaded guilty in November to assault on a nine-year-old boy. The court approved the deal and arrangements were being made for the operation when the civil liberties group initiated its legal challenge despite Stanley's call for them to stay out of the case.

Mark Mobley, lawyer for Stanley, of Greenwood, Arkansas, says he is exercising a lawful right to request the procedure. He said: "To ask for treatment for his disease, in addition to punishment for his crimes, is my client's constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

But the union said it had a right to protect the civil liberties of others. A circuit court judge ruled that it did not have this right but allowed an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court. That hearing is expected before the end of the month.