This paper describes the use of empirical data to test a popularly‐held subjective view of the attitude of a man with learning disabilities towards children following incidents involving attacks on children after his resettlement into the community from long‐term institutional care. An heuristic was developed making use of a marked behavioural trait, i.e. his propensity to stare. Relative instances of this behaviour directed towards adults and children respectively were recorded during a sample of twenty‐four, one‐hour sessions. A statistical analysis of the recorded data revealed no significant difference between attention paid to adults and to children. The observers, therefore, concluded that it was unreasonable to assume an unhealthy preoccupation with c