Comment: Crack down on internet perverts (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Comment: Crack down on internet perverts

1:21pm Friday 15th June 2012 in Opinion By Telegraph comment

A REPORT to the government on the ‘explosion’ in the number of people found with indecent images of children is highly alarming.

Here in Lancashire we have seen many cases in the courts of people who have either made or have downloaded vile sexual images of children.

The phrase child porn is often used to describe these sick photos and videos, but that does not accurately illustrate the horrors these victims have experienced.

Local experts say the problem is getting worse with more and more incidents being reported and investigated.

One of the most worrying aspects is the evidence that as many as 84 per cent of offenders who looked at degrading pictures or videos of young children had also carried out abuse in person.

The caseload of CEOP, the agency set up to combat online paedophilia, has almost tripled in a year because of growing use of the internet and social networking services, and the images being seized are becoming more extreme.

It may be a new, developing crime, but police have made it clear that they are pursuing these criminals.

The courts must treat those convicted severely.

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