Report Warns Of Link Between Internet Use And Child Abuse

A specialist police child protection unit has warned that people who download child abuse images pose a risk of committing sex attacks on children.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre wants police to prioritise those caught with such images, who have access to children.

Its report says that internet images are becoming more extreme and sadistic.

Continuing that despite the increasing extremity of the nature of abusive images available online, the severity and number of images held by offenders are not enough alone to assess the risk they pose or the sentence they should receive.

The Ceop report comes after a committee of MPs being told that child sexual exploitation was taking place "all over the country".

The report goes on to recommend a full risk assessment to be considered before a judge hands down any sentence and that the idea that any case may result in the identification of a victim should be at the forefront of every investigation.

Referrals to Ceop increased by 181% between April last year and March this year.

"This point in time has the potential to be a golden age for child protection, but the evolution of technology is likely to make the internet an increasingly difficult place to investigate," the report added.

"The predicted dramatic rise in work volumes will require a fresh look at policing priorities and the resources allocated to this area of policing."

Jon Brown, head of the NSPCC's sexual abuse programme, said: "This supports research the NSPCC carried out last year, which revealed one in three of those convicted of possessing child abuse images has also committed other serious sexual offences against children."

(H)