MORE paedophiles should be jailed in the wake of the Huw Edwards scandal, the National Crime Agency’s boss says today.
Graeme Biggar joined The Sun in pushing for tougher punishments.
5
5
5
His crackdown call comes as yet another soft-justice case emerged.
Trainee teacher Jacob Chouffot, 26, was spared prison despite sharing vile videos of newborn babies being abused.
Ex-BBC presenter and dad-of-five Edwards, 63, escaped with a suspended jail term after he paid £1,500 for images and videos he branded “amazing”, including one of a child aged between seven and nine.
Shockingly, 80 per cent of those convicted of possessing indecent images of children avoid prison.
The Sun’s Keep Our Kids Safe campaign calls for the jailing of those with the most serious images.
The Government launched a sentencing review yesterday and Mr Biggar stressed: “It is not just the viewing of images that is causing harm.
“This is creating a market for and sometimes directly encouraging people to sexually abuse and rape children and video themselves doing it. So it does need to be taken really seriously.
“We are obviously conscious of the fact that prisons are pretty full and recognise that not everyone needs to be sent to prison.
“The NCA will not be arguing that every sentence needs to go up, and every crime needs to end in jail. That’s not practical in terms of prison population and not necessary in terms of the evidence in terms of keeping the public safe.
“But there are some crimes that do require prison sentences and I don’t think the balance at the moment is right.
“I hope that’s something that the Government will be looking at in the review.”
Responding to the 80 per cent figure, Mr Biggar added: “They get community or suspended sentences — that does not feel right to me. That issue has got a lot more publicity as a result of a particularly prominent BBC individual but it’s a longstanding challenge.”
Jail sentences are often only handed out when the offender has also been convicted of more serious charges such as making contact with a minor.
The Sun’s campaign has highlighted dozens of paedophiles including Bafta-nominated TV executive Lee Salisbury, 46, who avoided prison despite sending a teenage boy sexualised messages.
In another shocking case, an offender caught with 12,000 pictures got a suspended sentence because of his “good character”.
Another avoided jail after pleading guilty to viewing only images of children in discernible pain because it was “something to watch”.
The NCA investigates child sex offenders including those physically abusing young people and those committing online offences such as creating, sharing or viewing indecent images of children, grooming or blackmailing children online, as well as those streaming “live” and recorded abuse.
Estimates show that up to 830,000 UK adults — 1.6 per cent of the population — pose a threat to children.
Recent data from the NSPCC shows that online grooming crimes have reached record levels with 7,000 offences of sexual communication with a child recorded by police last year.
5
Last month Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the Government would be undertaking an independent sentencing review.
It was formally launched yesterday and is being chaired by former Conservative Lord Chancellor David Gauke.
Former Met detective Peter Bleksley said: “It is utterly appalling that predatory paedophiles are not being jailed.
“Everyone caught with child abuse images should go to prison. If you are hunting for images on the internet, you are not far away from hunting in real life – at a youth club, school or scout group and these sorts of sentences have to stop.”
A spokesman for Survivors UK said: “Image-based abuse is not a victimless crime, and the demand for images of abuse feeds a market that leads to further abuse and more victims.
“When sentences do not reflect the seriousness of the crime, it can be re-traumatising for survivors who are left feeling invalidated and silenced again.
“It is crucial that sentencing for these crimes recognises the severe, life-long impact the abuse has on survivors.”
5
